How much time have you spent on your phone today? What are you looking at and consuming? Who are you talking to? When are you on social media the most? Where are you at when you’re on social media? Why are we so consumed by social media and everything it is?
These are questions I began to ask myself one Friday afternoon as I got a screen time report on my phone for the week. The amount of time that was being reported to me was astonishing. I always knew I had spent a ton of time on social media. Running my own business, managing two artists, promoting events etc… I was consumed. While I always have believed that I’ve used social media as a tool for business and for ambitious projects I was still concerned by how much time I truly had been spending. Time… our most valuable asset we have in life. No one is promised more of it and some of us never seem to have enough of it.
Ultimately this lead to the spontaneous decision to delete all my social media apps on my phone with no set date of downloading them again. It felt freeing immediately.. Not being connected to everyone and everything. Not caring or wanting to know what everyone else was doing.
The first day I had multiple times I would literally open my phone and go to Instagram only to see that I didn’t have the app. Then I remembered what I felt when I deleted it and the feeling came back. Me not being able to sit still and do nothing my mind moved to the next thing I could do with my time. I immediately checked my planner and realized I had several things that were very important to me that I wanted to get done.
I immediately jumped into a project and got lost in my work and self improvement. As the days passed by I noticed this is how I would handle myself anytime I had the urge to grab my phone and go through it. Eliminating the temptation all together was immediately a huge help on my journey to find more time for myself and spending time in the real world.
Additionally what I began to do was start to reach out to friends or family that I haven’t talked to in a while. I figured since I wasn’t spending that time scrolling through social media I’d reach out to those who I’ve had genuine human connection with in my life. I began to try to call an old friend once a day to catch up or a family member to tell them I love them.
As I began to pour out my “I miss yous, and I appreciate you, and Hey let’s get together soon” Messages an odd thing occurred. Over the course of 3 days I had 2 friends I hadn’t heard from randomly decide to reach out to me and catch up out of the blue! This was affirmation in my mind that the universe was telling me I was doing the right thing and I became even more encouraged from my break with social media.
To wrap up my hiatus I decided to spend 2 days up in Sedona with no phone or laptop at all. During this time I got to embrace the serenity and beauty of nature with no distraction at all and connect with something so simple yet so majestic. While technology has undoubtedly increased the productivity and efficiency of our world there are drawbacks that come with it. At the end of the day the biggest take away was this… Moderation. This applies to keeping a healthy balance for anything in life is to practice moderation. We choose what we consume whether it’s food, information, energy, and relationships. If we don’t moderate what we consume our lives can spin drastically out of control.
The world is a great place and there are great people who inhabit it. Find time to step away from social media. Connect with a friend you haven’t talked to in awhile or reach out to that family member and let them know you love them. Spend time in person with the people who fan your flames and help you burn brighter. Spend time appreciating the world we live in and the beauty that’s around you. A break and a change in perspective could just be the jump-start you need to take your life where you want to go.
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