I took a year away from social media – and I would recommend it to all. There are several reasons why, but let’s start with the obvious:
There’s no one to impress. I suddenly realized that I didn’t need to share all these pictures. I didn’t need to put every aspect of my life out on the internet and there was no need for everyone to know what was going on every second of every day of my life. It was almost relaxing not to have to worry about what people were thinking of my latest update.
Significantly less drama? Yes, please. No one was in my business – that I was airing out constantly. Answering the demands of the cliques and keeping everyone satisfied was less of a worry and I could spend more time worrying about myself and what I wanted in my life.
After spending some one on one time with myself – I got to know myself better. It may sound silly to some that it took removing myself from social media to get to know myself better but it made it easier. I was no longer looking at the lives of everyone else and trying to build this character around what they wanted.
Discovering who actually cares and who’s just there for the show was a slap in the face but it was useful. Some people in life just cling on to who they think can get them into the hottest party, the most interesting show, who they can use for connections. Sad to discover that some of my “close friends” were just along for the ride but also good to cut off the toxicity of those people.
Spending more real-life time with friends and family was massively beneficial to mental health. Actually pausing and sitting down, having a face to face conversation with many people that actually cared and stayed around through everything, no matter what the situation was – it was incredible. Getting to know them on a whole new level was beautiful.
Self-esteem rises. On social media, it seems that everyone is beautiful all the time. Everyone always looks their best, everyone’s best foot is forward. Not being online made it easier not to compare myself to those people. It made it easier to compare myself to… myself. What I wanted to be, where I saw myself going. My self-esteem boosted because I finally got to see myself as beautiful, rather than a comparison to someone else.
Those are the top 6 reasons that I would use if I were recommending that someone take some time off from the hectic world of social media. It was beneficial to me and to my mental health and it could be beneficial to you and yours as well.
Everyone is a different person yet everyone deserves to love themselves. If you find yourself in this struggle – try taking a break. See where it can put you. What have you got to lose? Have you tried taking time off social media?
Leave a comment about your experiences with it, if you have. If you haven’t, what’s keeping you there?
