3 Reasons Why You Should Quit Social Media

What’s one thing you do before you sleep? Checking your Facebook, maybe Twitter too, and, of course, Instagram. An hour later, you’re too tired from scrolling the endless news that you will fall asleep. Morning comes. What’s the first thing you do when you wake up? Grab your phone that is only few centimeters away from you, and log on to Facebook to check notifications — and hopefully new “likes”. Repeat for Twitter, Line, Instagram, Snapchat, Path, WhatsApp, etc. 
 
 Sounds all too familiar? Don’t worry, you’re not alone. I did the exact same thing today. We probably don’t think of it this way, but we’re addicted to social media. Is it a bad thing being addicted to social media? Well, maybe. Actually, here are three reasons why social media can go wrong and why we should abandon them — for a long time, maybe forever (oh no!).

Social media creates an existential crisis.

Existential — what a fancy word. It’s basically a thinking that emphasizes on individual existence, freedom, and choice. Let’s talk about Facebook, for example. Have you ever heard the saying “it’s not really official before it’s Facebook official,” when you’re announcing about your new love interest or when you are telling people where you’re gonna go for vacation? Well, the same thing applies for your idea of self-existence.
 
 Whether you realize it or not, you automatically feel joyous if you get 50 likes on your post, or let down if you receive none. After repeated attempts of trying to gain approval to no avail, you think it’s dumb and decide to deactivate your account — you announce that you’re quitting Facebook. It will last for two months. Then you will be back on the never-ending circle.
 
 We don’t need social media “likes” and followers to realize that we exist in this world. We crave approval from others so much, that we think we’re not valid if we don’t get those “likes” and followers. We’ve been so ingrained with social media consumption that we shape our identity based on the ideal image to the public, not as we are.

You’ll never be at peace if you are on social media.

Let’s agree that there’s just too many things going on at the same time on social media sites. Ads, page updates and suggestions are popping up every minute on your Twitter and Facebook news feed. There are millions of colorful and out of the world photos on Instagram and Pinterest waiting to be seen. In fact, there’s very little room for actual socializing between friends on those sites — let alone in real life.
 
 Because of our “addiction” for social media attention and approval, we feel left behind when we’re not on social media. Even when you’re having dinner with your parents or going camping, you feel anxious and want to constantly know what’s going on in your social media realms. Saying goodbye or toning it down significantly on those channels will help you spend more time with those you really care about in life, and perhaps also help you to spend more time outdoors and do different activities.

You’ll have more privacy in life.

You’ll probably get hundreds of “likes” if you update your relationship status from “Single” to “In a relationship” on Facebook. But let’s pretend after a few months you break up with that somebody and your status changes back to “Single.” Then you don’t wanna tell people about it, but guess what! People will find out… because they’ll stalk you.
 
 Maybe you don’t care what people think, but the reality is that deep down we all do. You’ll start thinking that people will see you in a different way and label you. You’re overcome with frustration, and soon after it might even turn into depression. That might sound a bit dramatic, but it’s not uncommon. You don’t have to deal with all these if you can leverage your social media activities, or better yet stop them altogether. Sometimes it’s good to only share your life with those around you, because they’re the ones who truly care for us — who don’t intend to make your life their next gossiping topic.
 
 So what are we going to do about it? Should we say goodbye to Facebook and legions of other social media sites? Perhaps the question that we should ask ourselves is: “Do we really need social media in our daily lives?” and keep asking why until our common sense tells us that it’s okay or NOT okay to use it. Moderation is probably the middle ground in this dilemma. When it comes to things like this, maybe we should listen to what Yoda said, “Do or do not, there’s no trying.”