Throughout the entire past month I've been off all of my social media apps (Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook, and TikTok), this experiment has really made me realize how much I relied on social media to "kill time". Before this experiment whenever I started to scroll on any of my apps, I always told myself that I will be on my apps for " 20 minutes only" which always turned into 5 hours of just staring at my screen. The first few days during this experiment, it felt very weird not being able to look through my Instagram or scrolling through videos on TikTok. I remember whenever I was free, I got so bored and was always wondering "what am I supposed to do??" Soon with my free time I started to become more productive and do things that I have been procrastinating on. One of the new productive habits I started with is to read often and whenever I can. That made me realize how easy it is to spend 5 hours going on social media rather than reading a book for 15 minutes. Some other important things I have been working on is journaling and praying. I realized how important it is to spend time with the Lord and write thoughts that might be bothering me. These habits really improved my mental health since I’ve always struggled with caring about what other people think of me. Sometimes I think if I do something that isn't pleasing to another human being or I see someone who thinks negatively towards me, I always feel ashamed and that should not be the case. Journaling really helped me understand to not worry about other people's opinions and to focus on myself and my relationship with God. I also worry really easily about things that I tend to overthink and I always predict the worst outcome when I make decisions, which is another thing that journaling has helped me with. Reflecting on how I feel in writing really does improve my mood and puts me in a positive mindset. During the time when I am usually scrolling through my Instagram, I ended up spending more time in prayer, reading, and journaling. Along with getting my feelings and thoughts out on paper. I have also been getting back into the routine of writing everything down on what I plan to do each day beforehand so I don't freak out on what I need to do next.
This experiment also helped me realize how much of the news I get from going through my social media accounts. Due to my absence on social media for the last month, most of the events that occurred in the world recently, I didn't really know about until someone told me directly. That shows how we get a lot of our news from social media, which is a good thing but it shouldn't be the only source to get the information. I did end up downloading a news app that gives me notifications so I don't miss anything but just having that, I struggle in keeping up with everything. I usually define the news app as "boring" because there aren't other things to look at that may distract me. For example, on TikTok, a lot of people are scrolling through a bunch of random videos and usually, there would happen to have a breaking news announcement popping up. That shows how social media really does do a good job helping people know what's happening in our society but at the same time, people will scroll through it and end up watching other videos that aren't important and spending unnecessary hours on their phone.
This experiment really helped me understand that there are so many other things a person can do instead of going through their social media all the time. The people who have made these apps purposely want us to be going on their platforms 24/7, which is why they are so addicting. Don’t get me wrong, I do feel social media can be a good thing. For one, it can help us connect with people all around the world and see what people are doing nowadays. Especially since we’re in a pandemic, it is hard to see people in person and social media does have its benefits in connecting with people who you aren’t able to see in real life. So there are many pros and cons to these apps but I feel there are more cons than pros. I was always in the bad habit where I need to rely on my social media whenever I am available but that shouldn’t always be the ONLY thing to rely on. There are many things in life to focus on and this experiment really helped me come to that realization.
This experiment also helped me realize how much of the news I get from going through my social media accounts. Due to my absence on social media for the last month, most of the events that occurred in the world recently, I didn't really know about until someone told me directly. That shows how we get a lot of our news from social media, which is a good thing but it shouldn't be the only source to get the information. I did end up downloading a news app that gives me notifications so I don't miss anything but just having that, I struggle in keeping up with everything. I usually define the news app as "boring" because there aren't other things to look at that may distract me. For example, on TikTok, a lot of people are scrolling through a bunch of random videos and usually, there would happen to have a breaking news announcement popping up. That shows how social media really does do a good job helping people know what's happening in our society but at the same time, people will scroll through it and end up watching other videos that aren't important and spending unnecessary hours on their phone.
This experiment really helped me understand that there are so many other things a person can do instead of going through their social media all the time. The people who have made these apps purposely want us to be going on their platforms 24/7, which is why they are so addicting. Don’t get me wrong, I do feel social media can be a good thing. For one, it can help us connect with people all around the world and see what people are doing nowadays. Especially since we’re in a pandemic, it is hard to see people in person and social media does have its benefits in connecting with people who you aren’t able to see in real life. So there are many pros and cons to these apps but I feel there are more cons than pros. I was always in the bad habit where I need to rely on my social media whenever I am available but that shouldn’t always be the ONLY thing to rely on. There are many things in life to focus on and this experiment really helped me come to that realization.