Why I Needed a Social Media Detox and How to Do It

Last week, I came to a breaking point with social media. I had been using it a lot to post, chat with friends, watch funny videos, blah blah blah, but Friday night, my algorithm brought me somewhere a little… darker, which is what ultimately led me to my social media detox.

I love to watch funny reels. You know, the ones of people doing funny things like pranking each other, tricking their family members into drinking 3 tequila shots instead of 1, hanging clear tape across a doorway, waiting for their next victim to walk directly into it!

I seriously love this type of content, and it makes me happy, so I was indulging in it quite often.

What could go wrong??

Well... Friday night, my algorithm took me to the doom & gloom side of Instagram, and I was indeed... doomscrolling. It started with reels on the power outages in Gary, Indiana. This led me to videos on how to prepare for a power outage. That led me to how to prepare for 18 months of no power. Which led me to homesteading pages that post about things like canning, stocking up, water reserves, etc etc etc.

My lovely Friday evening quickly changed to me thinking about the end of the world. Wondering how I’m supposed to create a homestead ahead of time and being pissed at myself for not starting sooner!!

This was also the day before my period started (which was 2 days late), so my hormones were all over the place. I felt soooo anxious.

Saturday morning, while driving to teach yoga, I actually had to self-soothe myself out of anxiety before teaching. I haven’t felt actual anxiety like that for a long, long time, so this was a huge red flag for me!

At that point, I had already deleted social media off of my phone, thank god. All I could think of was how quickly this doom & gloom took over my whole existence.

I was planning to just delete it for the day, but I felt sooooo much instant relief that I decided to begin my social media detox.

Why would someone need a social media detox?

There are many, many reasons why one would want to detox from social media. Maybe you’re like me and found yourself overwhelmed by what you saw on it.

Maybe you have big life choices to make and feel you can’t hear your own thoughts through all of the noise.

Maybe you're sick and tired of constantly being sold something on social media.

Maybe you need a reminder of all of the beauty of life.

TBH, I am all of these things right now. I’m going through big life choices and couldn’t hear my own intuition through all of the noise. I'm tired of feeling like I need to be someone on social media. I'm tired of being overstimulated.

It’s just fcking exhausting.

Another huge factor as to why I am on my detox is that our phones emit soooo much EMF radiation. I am super sensitive to this, and my hands often tingle or start to hurt from the radiation. Detoxing from social media is a wonderful way to be on and hold my phone less. My hands already feel sooo much better.

Laptops and computers emit EMF radiation too. To help mitigate this, I use a Bluetooth keyboard and mouse with my laptop. This way my hands are not actually touching my laptop, and there is some distance between them.

Different types of social media detox

I have done this a few times in my life, so here are some different ways you can detox from social media.

1 - Set Limits Through the Settings in Your Phone.

I believe these are found in "Screen Time" settings. The main issue I have with this is that I don’t have enough self-control to follow the rules I set for myself and always click “ignore time limit for today” or whatever it says.

2 - Get a Brick

I don’t have one of these, but my friend does and swears by it. From my understanding, it’s a physical box thing that you keep at your house and tap to lock and unlock your apps. I believe you can also set time limits or hours of the day that you are able to access your restricted apps. I don’t believe you can bypass these limits.

3 - Delete Social Media From Your Phone

This is what I've done. I'm still checking it here and there on my computer, but social media on my computer is way, way, way less of an issue for me than having it on my phone. I never sit and scroll reels on my computer lol. I also, obviously, am not going to hold my computer up to my face in public throughout the day to see what's happening on Instagram!! You’ll have to decide if you want to allow yourself access on your computer or not.

4 - Deactivate Your Account

You do this through Instagram. This isn’t the same as deleting your account. It simply takes your account down until you reactivate it. If someone searches your account, I believe it comes up as blank. No one can view your account while it is deactivated. I did this earlier this year and loved it!

Try one, try another, find what works best for YOU. Personally, I’d rather just delete the app from my phone instead of buying the block thing, but that's just me! I’m sure there are endless other apps out there to help you limit & detox from social media as well.

I hope this was helpful in some way!! I highly recommend doing a social media detox, even just for a few days, to see how you feel. I definitely feel lighter, more optimistic, and less stressed than a couple of days ago.

Enjoy and have a lovely day 🖤

Sasha

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