In the year since I quit social media, my screen time has gone down, my mood has improved – even my resting heart rate is lower | Philippa Moore
January 10, 2022, I thought I was going a little crazy.
Or maybe, after all that happened past two years and with the country in the throes of yet another Covid surge, I had just had enough. If my social media feeds were anything to say, so is everyone else. Every time I opened Instagram or Twitter, I felt caught in a whirlwind of anger and despair.
After reading one too many self-righteous rants, I made the decision quick to get away from social media. I did not announce it. I just disappeared. I was curious to see what might happen and, more importantly, if it would help.
As the virtual dust settled on my profiles, I realized that this decision had been in the making for some time. I didn't know if social media was the problem or if it was me. All I knew was something had to give.
In one week, my screen time was down 81%. And it wasn't just the time I had regained. I felt like I got my brain back. I had the ability to concentrate, to think clearly and deeply. I had more energy. I slept better. I felt more creative and confident. My fear of missing something was gone.
As the weeks went by, I noticed how much more relaxed I was, despite everything that was going on around me . It was rebellious, exciting even, to have disappeared into thin air. My Fitbit reported the lowest resting heart rate I've had in months.
I initially decided to see if I could last a week . Then two. It's now been 16 months and counting.
Every time I consider coming back, the case against him gets stronger. I don't want to go back to feeling anxious, sad, inadequate, or needing external validation every time I pick up my phone. Sure, I didn't stop feeling those things, but there was a drastic reduction. I notice these feelings more quickly, and because they aren't nurtured, they don't linger the way they used to.
Stay away from social media m also made me take my job more seriously. Instead of channeling my creativity into captions, it went into my actual writing — my doctoral thesis, a novel. Without the ability to tab elsewhere, I stayed in my chair as I hit writer's blocks and then pushed them through. I wrote more in 2022 than ever. I applied for scholarships and competed in competitions, and won a few. Social media, it seemed, hadn't been the place of inspiration I thought.
I also discovered a community of people who had made the same thing and I took great comfort in knowing it wasn't just me. Where did I find them? Good old-fashioned blogging.
I started writing online almost 20 years ago, when the word "blog" was still unknown to many. I loved blogging and built a strong community without any of the platforms available to us now. When blogging went out of style, that energy transferred into social media. So last year, I went back in time and started blogging again. Some people picked me up there - it was encouraging.
Trying to keep in touch with friends was a bit trickier. Some friendships were made during my absence on social networks. I'm thankful most happily forwarded via text or email. I even became old-fashioned correspondents with several interstate friends. But there are a few that I considered very good friends whose communication also dropped. That was the only real downside to the whole experience. I tried not to take it too personally - it was my choice to walk away. But I did not walk away from these friendships, nor did I ask them to do the same.
I lamented the silence of a friend to my husband. "Did I upset them?" I asked, a bit panicked. He shook his head. "They always like and respond to anything I put on Instagram. I don't think they would do that if they were upset. It's just that for some people, if you don't you're not on social media, you don't exist. Weirdly, that made me feel a little better.
Social media taps into a basic human need: the connection. And it's harder to find when you don't want to hang around where everyone else is. But now, when I open my phone, I rarely come away feeling lost. Rather than me...
January 10, 2022, I thought I was going a little crazy.
Or maybe, after all that happened past two years and with the country in the throes of yet another Covid surge, I had just had enough. If my social media feeds were anything to say, so is everyone else. Every time I opened Instagram or Twitter, I felt caught in a whirlwind of anger and despair.
After reading one too many self-righteous rants, I made the decision quick to get away from social media. I did not announce it. I just disappeared. I was curious to see what might happen and, more importantly, if it would help.
As the virtual dust settled on my profiles, I realized that this decision had been in the making for some time. I didn't know if social media was the problem or if it was me. All I knew was something had to give.
In one week, my screen time was down 81%. And it wasn't just the time I had regained. I felt like I got my brain back. I had the ability to concentrate, to think clearly and deeply. I had more energy. I slept better. I felt more creative and confident. My fear of missing something was gone.
As the weeks went by, I noticed how much more relaxed I was, despite everything that was going on around me . It was rebellious, exciting even, to have disappeared into thin air. My Fitbit reported the lowest resting heart rate I've had in months.
I initially decided to see if I could last a week . Then two. It's now been 16 months and counting.
Every time I consider coming back, the case against him gets stronger. I don't want to go back to feeling anxious, sad, inadequate, or needing external validation every time I pick up my phone. Sure, I didn't stop feeling those things, but there was a drastic reduction. I notice these feelings more quickly, and because they aren't nurtured, they don't linger the way they used to.
Stay away from social media m also made me take my job more seriously. Instead of channeling my creativity into captions, it went into my actual writing — my doctoral thesis, a novel. Without the ability to tab elsewhere, I stayed in my chair as I hit writer's blocks and then pushed them through. I wrote more in 2022 than ever. I applied for scholarships and competed in competitions, and won a few. Social media, it seemed, hadn't been the place of inspiration I thought.
I also discovered a community of people who had made the same thing and I took great comfort in knowing it wasn't just me. Where did I find them? Good old-fashioned blogging.
I started writing online almost 20 years ago, when the word "blog" was still unknown to many. I loved blogging and built a strong community without any of the platforms available to us now. When blogging went out of style, that energy transferred into social media. So last year, I went back in time and started blogging again. Some people picked me up there - it was encouraging.
Trying to keep in touch with friends was a bit trickier. Some friendships were made during my absence on social networks. I'm thankful most happily forwarded via text or email. I even became old-fashioned correspondents with several interstate friends. But there are a few that I considered very good friends whose communication also dropped. That was the only real downside to the whole experience. I tried not to take it too personally - it was my choice to walk away. But I did not walk away from these friendships, nor did I ask them to do the same.
I lamented the silence of a friend to my husband. "Did I upset them?" I asked, a bit panicked. He shook his head. "They always like and respond to anything I put on Instagram. I don't think they would do that if they were upset. It's just that for some people, if you don't you're not on social media, you don't exist. Weirdly, that made me feel a little better.
Social media taps into a basic human need: the connection. And it's harder to find when you don't want to hang around where everyone else is. But now, when I open my phone, I rarely come away feeling lost. Rather than me...
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