What I Learned From Deleting Social Media
There is so much more going on beyond the screen.
Many teens my age are on all the social media platforms. They Instagram their days out, they Snapchat their evenings in, they TikTok their creative spurs. But I don’t do any of that anymore. It’s not that I don’t have the time for social media, trust me, if I wanted to, I could have time for it. It’s not that my parents don’t let me use social media. Both my parents have Instagram. The reason I don’t have social media anymore is that I just don’t want it.
In the past, I’ve experienced social media. I’ve had Instagram and Snapchat. But I realize now that those things didn’t make me happy. Posting about my vacation didn’t make me more thankful for my experiences, it just made me want to get more pictures, to spend time getting that perfect shot instead of enjoying the scenery around me.
Now, when I look back on the family vacations during which I did have Instagram, I realize that it made my experience worse. I wasn’t thinking about how best to enjoy the place where I was, but rather how best to post about it to social media. One thing I’ve noticed since I quit social media is that I can just be present at the moment, wherever it is that I am. I don’t have the urge to pull out my phone to snap the best frame, I can make memories that will be much more significant than a photo.
Socially, I don’t feel I’ve missed out because I don’t have social media. I still can connect with my friends through text messages. I’ve streamlined those interactions. When I had Snapchat, I “snapped” people that I knew only as acquaintances, or hadn’t talked with in quite some time. I think back now and wonder why I felt I needed to constantly be in communication with people who I don’t talk to regularly. The people who I do interact with daily, I can just have a conversation with or text them to talk with them.
One thing that I do notice as a result of not having social media, is that I spend a lot less time on my phone. This is supplemented by watching TV shows and YouTube on my tablet, but I do feel that it cuts down on time spent on the Internet. When I’m out in public, for example, I don’t need to reach for my phone to check social media. It’s especially funny to see other teens my age use Snapchat on the bus. They think no one can tell that they are on Snapchat, but I don’t even have to see their screen to know that they are sending a “relatable” photo to fifty people.
The time I spend with friends now is better spent. I can focus on the people I am with, instead of people on Snapchat. I can have conversations without the interruption of an Instagram alert. I am fully present in the moment and can create memories with my friends instead of sending a Snapchat.
Many individuals my age with whom I have talked care deeply about the number of followers they have on social media. It doesn’t matter to them if those who follow them are friends of friends of friends, all that matters is that they have a “respectable” number of followers. I now know that such numbers aren’t important. I realized that the only reason I would put up pictures on Instagram was to show off to people I barely knew. That was one reason I deleted social media. Instead, if I go on a trip, then those with whom I want to share my experiences, I can show to IRL on my phone.
So to sum up, what I’ve learned in the past year and a half of not having social media, is that I don’t need it. Unless I have a business of my own, I’m not going to be setting up an account any time soon. I’ve found that to be happy, I need to spend less time looking at what other people are doing, where they’re going and what they’re eating and focus more on the things that I do, the places I go and the things I eat. I’ve found that the best way to be happy is to live life for yourself instead of a thousand strangers on Instagram.
P.S. I never actually had a thousand followers, but I know people who do have that many.
