First thing in the morning do you check your social media notifications? How often when you’re on vacation do you find you are concerned about taking the perfect social media picture instead of enjoying the moment & family? Or are you the type that is nosy but not supportive and judges and criticizes what you see?
I recently did a social media detox, mine was due to information overload which is distracting to me. I also feel it’s becoming NOT fun anymore and rather a competition with lots of judgment. Ask someone close to you like your children or spouse and they will tell you if you need to detox.
At first, it’s torture but after about 3 days you start realizing that you are back in the real world, no longer in a perfect fantasy world where everyone pretends to have perfect everything. You are not on your own if you realized the negative effects of too much social media. There has been a recent trend of people purposely reducing their time. While it’s entertaining it can also be harmful and very addictive. Let’s face it, it’s Apps where people choose what they want you to see, and everything is filtered.
I thought I was being weird about wanting to take a break but when I mentioned it to others, I found lots of people had made the same decision. Some didn’t even have social media at all. I’m not sure if I’m ready for that yet as I enjoy being supportive to others, but I did the detox for my own mental clarity. It’s a distraction that takes too much time from my goals yet to be accomplished plus it’s not fair to my family.
Some of my personal tips:
- Remove the Apps from your phone. I did it otherwise you will click on it out of habit.
- Do the detox with a group or your spouse, it makes it easier. My husband and I went on vacation and agreed not to post, and we didn’t miss it.
- If you’re a business owner, and have business social media pages, hire someone to handle them, I did about a year ago & I love it.
- When and if you return to your personal social media, monitor the time spent on it.
- If there are negative people or ones that strike a nerve, delete them.
Rosa Julia Parra
CEO, Palo Magazine