📵 The Social Media Realm: Why You Can't Leave & Why You Probably Should.

Walk through this portal into an immersive universe that sucks you in as soon as you set foot onto its perfectly shiny floor. Leave your dirty shoes by the door and make sure to plaster a smile on your face and don’t forget your mask because this world is a masquerade ball, you’ll get kicked out if you don’t follow the dress code. The rules here are strict but you can have all your fun and meet all these people. Just don’t ask them to take off their masks because you won’t like what you’ll see underneath.

This dance lasts forever, jump from partner to partner, dance to every tune, and have your fill of every food. There is no room to stop, everything you desire is endless, until your very desires become endless.

Why It’s Hard To Quit.

FOMO: Fear of missing out on news, friends, trends..

You have to think about whether what you consume on social media elevates your life or not. A feed filled with negativity or stupidity affects our mental health and mindset more than we think. What you focus on, expands. This is why oftentimes, if not always, the type of friends you have dictate your life.

We all know the importance of the people that surround us.

Proof: Repetition ensures memorization; we repeat what we want to memorize in our studies. When you consume a certain type of content -content being a set of visuals, text and audio- you drill it into your brain, and with that it reflects in your thoughts, and with that your words, and then your actions. And in the end, your actions reflect your life.

Also, the content you consume becomes the norm in your life. If your friends are used to attending certain events, you will also be sucked into it, if they always dance, you’ll end up dancing.
If you don’t concede, you won’t fit in anymore, you might not be liked, and since that hurts, we rather just keep going.

The point is to understand whether the type of content you consume on social media aligns with your dream life and with the best version of you. You’re not missing out on anything if the content you consume is detrimental to your life.

Being left out by friends.

Real friends will accept your choices even if they don’t necessarily understand or even agree with them. Not following each other on Instagram anymore is not enough of a reason to not be friends anymore. There are other ways to connect. Seeing what someone had for lunch or where they went on the weekend is not at the height of emotional connection.

It’s a masquerade ball, everyone shows up with a mask, do you really know who your real friends are? Do you know what lurks underneath a shiny mask?

Being bored/not having a distraction anymore.

This is the only one that I personally relate to. Social media was always nothing but a nice big distraction. You can justify having social media if you consume informative and valuable content but not at the price of your focus, time and the things that actually matter. There’s only so much to remember, and theory will only get you so far.

Seeking distraction from your thoughts and emotions is like running in place. You still have to live with yourself. Even 10 hours on your phone won’t save you from that.

You can dance all you want but the dizziness will catch up eventually.

Benefits Of Quitting.

Focus and mental clarity.

Many students complain of lack of focus. But how much content and stimulus can a brain take? With 6+ hours of highly stimulating and engaging material, there’s no way studying can be easy. There is great mental resistance towards it, and as our brains constantly seek the path of least resistance (i.e. our automatic habits, the easiest and well known path), reaching to your phone and spending another 2 hours is the default setting.

But think back to centuries before our time when people could read long and boring books. Who can do that anymore?

A book, no matter how long and dense, was a treat for a brain with no better stimulus.

Better mental health.

When you stop focusing on negativity, stupidity, tons of different opinions on tons of different topics, and you genuinely sit with yourself and your feelings, you actually have some mental clarity to do other things; there’s no wonder your mental health will improve.

When constantly moving, there’s no place for the mind to think and reflect. When the body has its fill of every pleasure, the mind is numb.

More time for what matters.

People average 6 hours 58 minutes of screen time per day. That’s about 29% of your day spent on things that are not: sleeping, eating, commuting, studying. Instead, it’s spent on things you don’t even remember. Can you recall a single video you watched in your 3 hour scrolling session?

I don’t subscribe to any of that ‘get up at 4am, take a cold shower, meditate for 1 hour…’ belief system. All of these acts don’t justify not actually doing the thing. The only way to achieve what you want is to take the steps that get you there. Not to talk about it, post about it, or ‘prepare for it’ etc.

Most people have something they love to do or want to do and it could be the simplest of things, but social media takes away from it. It takes away from the time, energy and mental clarity needed to get you to take action.

Things You Can Do Instead Of Quitting Completely.

Not everyone has to or even needs to let go of social media forever. Positive aspects do remain after all, everything is as we see it. It’s the perspective we cast on things that dictate their influence on our lives.

Mindful usage.

• Making sure not to exceed a daily limit in a way that hinders focus, mental hygiene, close relationships and personal goals.

• Being in situations that don’t require phone usage.

• When we’re doing well in life and are happy in our relationships, the need for a distraction and an escape lessens. If reality surpasses the hypothetical, it ceases to be a refuge that dictates our emotional state.

• Turning off notifications.

Food For Thought.

If social media is so great, (which it is, one way or another), and if it brings so much value, why is it free? Why would a perfectly designed product who would get customers anyway, be free? Doesn’t this mean there is some ulterior motive and greater reason? (to not call it a conspiracy theory).

Maybe, you are the product. Your time, your energy, your data. They’re more valuable than money. Because if they weren’t, you’d just pay to use social media like you pay for other products and services.

It’s very easy to control a sad, tired, angry person. They start searching for ways to not be lonely anymore, they hide behind insecurities and pay whatever price to be accepted. They live by anyone’s rules except for theirs. They become nothing but a money generating machine. It’s very easy to harbor hate in their hearts, to make them believe whatever thing, to get them to believe in their weakness, lack of will, to create very tall walls and make them believe that these walls can’t be shattered.

There is no room to stop, everything you desire is endless, until your very desires become endless.

💖 Let’s connect!

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📝Author’s Note:

A little backstory: I’ve always been on and off of social media over the years. Quitting for months at a time and coming back. My longest streak is about 6-8 months, and during each of these periods, there really wasn’t anything I missed or cared about. On the contrary, I always felt many noticeable improvements. Currently, I’m on a 3 month streak and I want to share how quitting social media might be what you need in your life. If not, that’s fine. I never regret the time I spend off of it. And even when I used to be on it, I’d wish to delete all my accounts. For some reason, it’s still pretty hard to leave it, so I can’t even imagine how it would be like for people who have a true social media presence.

Everything is a matter of habit, the first step is always uncomfortable until living with or without a thing is the new normal.

Leila,

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