What Could Happen if We Take a Social Media Detox Seriously? 

Many famous people have said they are going to take a break from social media. Selena Gomez, Tom Holland, and Lizzo have posted before talking about they would take a social media break from Instagram and Twitter. Others have abandoned this whole world for good. 

Does it really make them happy? What can we get from their experience?

Besides that, how often do you actually check your phone for social media updates upon waking up?

For me, it happens all the time. Today, for example, I checked my Instagram followers count first thing in the morning to know how far my last reel went. Sometimes I feel excited watching my numbers go up, and I get upset most of the time.

It might ruin my day before even it starts. 

How often do you feel self-conscious or worried about getting the ideal Instagram photo instead of just relaxing and taking in the sights when on vacation?

How frequently do you find yourself in a heated debate on social media?

This is why it’s a good idea to try a social media detox, which can help you gain some perspective.

Indeed, we need to pay attention to the energy we consume on social media for the sake of aimless scrolling. We could put it to much better use.

At first, social media served merely as a pleasant way to connect with others.

But now everything has changed. Nonetheless, at this point, everything is different. It has developed over time to become second nature to us.

The majority of our knowledge comes from it, and it shapes everything from consumer behaviour and politics to public policy and debate.

It’s cliché (I know), but it bears repeating: the Internet is not the real world. Despite its seeming not, it only presents a fraction of the information about global events.

We can count ourselves lucky that more and more individuals are coming to this realisation. 

All of that leads to a new growing trend— minimising the time we spend on social media.

As a result, some have deleted their social media accounts, and others decided to give their real life more attention by going completely cold turkey and leaving this gossip space for good. 

However, you are not obligated to avoid using social media entirely to reap the rewards of social media detox. 

But it’s worth saying that if you experience stress or anxiety or you notice unease while browsing the internet, you need to stand up for yourself and give a social media detox a chance.  

We’ll investigate what it is and how to get off of social media.

What Exactly is a “Social Media Detox”?

That’s when you decide that there are no more social media for a certain period. And we mean here by social media is all websites and social apps. 

You can take around 30 days offs, but feel free if you set your own time (longer or shorter) of course, the longer, the better. 

In an ideal world, it is not rocket science. You don’t even need to overthink it. Just hold your mobile, uninstall or delete any social media apps and don’t open any of them from any device. It’s a way of self-discipline.

But it Seems Social Media Detox and Social Media Break are Similar, Right?

No, and I’ll tell you how. A social media detox is different from taking a break from the platforms. A break can involve keeping yourself away from certain websites which are considered common social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter. You will decide to unplug from these communities for a certain amount of time.

Otherwise, a “social media detox” means cutting off using all websites that can be categorised under “social media community”. It might include giving a trustworthy friend your social media account passwords so they can change them and store them for you until you’re ready to return is one such extreme option.

Or even you might completely delete your accounts. 

But here is the thing; there is nothing wrong with social media itself. They are such great sources for many stuff, changing the whole world of communication, marketing, businesses, and others. The key is to put it to good use.

You need to be conscious enough to identify any negative effects upon reflection. 

These apps impact your life, and you need to admit that. But when things start to get worse, you’ll need to spell out that you’re taking a sabbatical from social media.

But does it worth it? Let’s see.

So, When Should You Say, Okay, the World is the time to Take a Social Media Detox?

You should probably disconnect from social media once you’re here or have been thinking about it.

And you don’t have to explain yourself— that should be reason enough. If you feel that, you mean that. Social media platforms are absolutely affecting your self-esteem and overall well-being. 

If you came up with this article because you get fed up wasting time on social media, it’s your lucky day because we have experienced a useful approach to do so and want to share it with you.   

But what are the symptoms of social media addiction? 

Alright, if social media takes over your time— if you overthink how you appear on social media— if you want to check how many likes, followers, and shares your post achieves— or if you always hold your phone whenever and wherever you’re! 

Break This Comparison Loop

Scientists have discovered that almost all people who use social media excessively end up comparing themselves to everyone’s lives they know.

The problem with this is that it can seriously impact your self-esteem.  

For example, if everyone you know is achieving something in their life, getting married or having beautiful babies. On the other hand, you may feel lonely and alone if you are still unemployed, single, or your life lacks activities!

By spending too long hours on social media, you’re exposing yourself to many harmful, traumatic, and negative things. 

The balance between good, wow, and not-so-good things isn’t equal. 

That can trigger things for some people that may be painful. It may be traumatic, raw, and unresolved. They might be not acknowledged enough how to deal with these sinking feelings.

When we compare ourselves with others, as presented on social media, we can’t enjoy what we have. As a result, we hardly ever come off well. Even though we know we’re just looking at people’s highlights in some part of their life, which might even be staged, it isn’t easy to hold that in mind when checking for a perfect image for others.

That then further exacerbates any negative thoughts about ourselves. So it is pretty damaging in terms of denting our confidence and self-esteem. 

Because it’s so pervasive and prevalent, most importantly, it’s unconscious. 

This feeling is corrosive, slowly chipping away at us.

For some, that’s a surefire recipe for serious depression.

It’s your call to break away from this unhealthy cycle. Additionally, getting away from this clutter will enable you to take a shift in your mindset and start noticing positive things around you. 

The idea of breaking will help you explore who you’re and what’s important to you, giving you more confidence in rethinking your choice in your life as to what information you access.

You will have time to think of what you want to learn about instead of being a passive recipient of all this information that’s washing around social networks.   

Clear Your Head

Spending less time on social media will allow you to concentrate on your own needs.

That will help you bring all fluffy things out of your mind. Instead, we live vicariously through our friends’ carefully selected videos, photographs, and captions, all while being engrossed in the digital world of gorgeous filters on influencers and models.

All these headlines are designed to spark an emotional reaction that will keep you scrolling to no end. 

Regarding our mental health, all of it is a disaster waiting to happen. It’s a bunch of noise and confusion that you don’t need and that serves no purpose other than to disrupt your peace of mind. It distributes your sanity. 

Just think about all the good things you could accomplish if you focus your mind and energy on the things that matter to you most.

Then, think of changes you can make in other people’s lives if you choose to interact in the real world. 

Clearing your head from all this chatter will urge your mind to focus on what really matters to you. Then you can prioritise what deserves your time and what you should leave out.   

Learn How to Protect Your Privacy  

Social media is a brilliant way to keep in touch with others to talk and share photos, which requires you to give up a lot of your privacy. 

You might be okay with that, but shouldn’t you?

For example, ReputationDefender recently reported that Whatsapp had updated its privacy policy, allowing the messaging app to share data with Facebook. 

But what if you don’t like letting the app store any keywords you use for commercial purposes?

You have nothing to do unless you uninstall both applications on your phone. Meta uses your data without your permission, and you have no control.

But what if that’s not possible for you because of your business or job?

This means you can disconnect from your phone and social media for a while. 

That includes deleting your apps and social accounts to give yourself the best possible privacy protection for at least a couple of days.  

Take Control of Your Digital Habits

Social media algorithms have been built to hook you by giving you quick inward satisfaction, lovely comments or overall feedback and other positive reinforcement. The more you get, the more you want to check your phone all the time.

You can always find what you’re looking for in the app by pulling down the screen and refreshing the feeds. You want to catch all likes or recent updates you might miss (actually, there is nothing!) You want to keep pulling the arm of a slot machine. You need something new to stimulate you.

Therefore, dopamine is released when your Facebook post receives positive reinforcement from others in the form of likes, shares, followers, comments, or being added to someone’s favourites.

For you, it’s unintentional. But for social media founders, it’s absolutely intentional.

For years, high-tech giants have employed psychologists and behavioural scientists to fine-tune their websites and platforms so that users are never distracted from their apps.

Why? In the hopes that you will continue to visit their site or use their app.

The longer you keep scrolling on your account, and the more you come back to check what’s going on (even if there is anything new), the more ads they can generate to serve your needs- The more revenues, the more cash they can gain taking advantage of you, the higher market share, and the more…. You know!

That motivates these mega-corporations to enhance their platforms, thereby optimising them in a way that runs counter to the original aim or intention.

The opposite is true; rather than bringing people together, social media increasingly isolates them. Your brain will get increasingly addicted to the screen time you check news feeds.

The major problem is that you end up feeling like you have no say over how you use the internet.

Instead, it turns out to be compulsive.

It starts with checking your feed first thing in the warning. The constant need to check for new notifications can distract you from fully immersing yourself in a real-world experience, such as a meal with loved ones or a relaxing spa day.

The final consideration for thinking about a social media detox is the advantages of doing so. You start reframing your life and building new habits.

You Will Take Your Breath 

Stopping feeling so competitive is one of the social media detox benefits. Your subconscious sense of competition is stoked by these networks.

That’s because social media platforms such as Instagram primarily aim to attract attention to your feeds.

Getting more likes, shares, comments, and other reactions to your posts increase their perceived popularity and might motivate you to outdo your peers and even yourself.

This level of rivalry is obviously detrimental to health. In addition, it can cause depression and anxiety.  

Remove the distraction of social media for a bit, and give your mind a rest.

Do you need a game plan now? Here are some tips, approved by experts, to help you ease up on social media a little and enjoy it more, which will lead to a more positive and productive experience overall.

How to Start a Social Media Detox?

Want to take a break from your social media accounts for the first time? B ready!

On the surface, this might seem straightforward. You will stop using social media, but it will always take work. We’ll walk through the whole process to ensure you’re ready and set up for success.

We have designed this plan based on our real-life experience to cover what you should do in your first week and how to guarantee the success of your detox program. 

• Delete Apps

Take a deep breath and know that this is just a temporary deed before you argue that you can’t do that!

We’d love to start at a certain time: 12 hours is more than enough! So, promise yourself that you will delete your social media apps for only 12 hours. It seems negligible! And say to yourself, “I can redownload anything!”

It’s about experimenting with how you would feel through the upcoming days.

Now, watch your thoughts; what does your mind bring to you once you decide to stop using social media? 

Once this experiment is over, limiting your social media usage will feel much more doable.  

• Think About Distractions 

The distraction technique could help a lot. Some people noted that they failed to step away from social media and go back to reaching their phone immediately because they had no alternative activity to keep them busy.

If you’re taking a detox, try to find something to replace social media with a fun activity— like seeing people in the real world, that type of thing you should consider.

I asked my friend, who was trying to leave Facebook, how she successfully made it. “I counted down the 30 days it would take to prevent myself form reactivating the account with a cross each morning.” 

“I remember when I came to the 30th day, putting a BIG X and being relieved. From this moment my account is gone and there is no way to go back!” She added. That happened three years ago.

About her feelings, she gets to experience herself as is, without all the clutter, without other people’s lives, without too much information constantly in her face, and without continually trying to put herself in other people’s faces. It is like a new private existence that she enjoys.  

Try doing your first detox can be challenging. But you can make it easier if you choose the right time when you know there will be much other stuff to distract you.

It is easier to forget about checking your phone when you have other things to focus on.

• Tell Your Friends and Family 

For a successful detox, telling your friends and family should be at the top of your list when applying a new plan to take time off your social accounts. 

Let them know you may still be reached via phone calls and messages for the time being.

However, you might experience the fear of missing out, which is normal. Still, you can overcome this feeling by replacing social media with reading news, informative blogs, or fun websites to cure boredom. 

In any case, there will be some benefits from getting the word out.

First, it will help you show off as an accountable individual.

If you tell your friends you’ll be gone for a few days and then publish a photo or tweet about being back, they should hopefully catch you. You may rely on that to keep you on track with your detox programme.

Second, if you decide to remain with it, that will let folks know you’re still around. Actually, the vast majority of your followers won’t even notice that you’ve stopped using the social media sites they frequent.

That will help you evaluate the importance of this whole world. Don’t take it personally. It will be beneficial to prioritise things in your life. 

• Detox With Someone

Building good new habits become easier when we have someone to share our plan, thoughts, and fears— whether you need to enrol in a course, eat only healthy food, and of course, take a social media detox. 

Create a list of your friends or family member who might be interested in the same idea of deactivating social media accounts. Then call them to know who is willing to start with you. 

For the next week, you intend to run errands without your phone. Get in touch with your partner after this week is up to share your success story.

That way, you’ll have someone to count on for support if you falter or the encouragement to keep going if you succeed.

• Silent Mood Has Pure Power

Make Do Not Disturte or Silent mode your best friends during this healing journey. You don’t need to feel distracted by multiple notifications, and you can set it to your favour.

Calls from important people like your boss, mum, dad, or others will still make a sound. 

• Think of Alternatives  

The next stage is to make a plan outlining how you’ll spend your break doing things that are meaningful to you. Trust me; you will find out that your day can give you more than you might think. You can now do more activities instead of scrolling down! 

If possible, try to replace your social media time with an activity that doesn’t involve technology, such as reading, walking, spending time with family and friends, doing something on the side, like a business or a project, exercising, yoga, going to the gym, or learning something new.

Social Media Detox Tools

While we want to make it easier for you to start your social media detox, we’ve found a few free helpful tools and a bounce recommendation to keep you off social networks if you embark on a break. 

• StayFocusd Chrome Extension: A perfect Google Chrome tool if you use it as your web browser and want to stop the temptation of checking Twitter, Facebook, and so. 

• OurPact: If you want to stop your kids from accessing social media on their phones, OurPact is a brilliant solution. Initially, it was designed for parents to control their kids’ social exposure, but it’s perfect for adults who are not good at helping themselves. 

• Self Control App: a Mac application that enables you to block certain websites. 

• News Feed Eradicator Chrome Extension: This tool is less about your whole social media detox and more about keeping your usage of Facebook saner by removing the news feed and replacing it with a kind quote. 

Now what? Hopefully, you can start right now after you find out what a social media detox can look like and a step-by-step plan to make the most of this period. Tell us in the comments section if you have ever experienced a social media break or detox and when you think you are ready to do that.