6 Things That Happened When I Took A Week Off Social Media

The Sunday before Thanksgiving here in the US, I decided it was time to take a week off social media.  I had just wrapped up a full six weeks of events, traveling and working with clients, and had already planned to take the week off work.  So I logged out of Facebook and Instagram on my phone and my social media break began.  (Full disclosure-I also have Twitter, Pinterest, and LinkedIn on my phone, but I rarely post on those right now so I knew I’d have no trouble staying off them.)One week later my break was officially over.  But I had no desire to log back on…  So I waited until the following evening, logged back into all of my accounts and in less than 10 minutes, I had had enough and closed out of the apps.Given that a portion of my work involves being active online, I knew I needed to get back on sometime soonish so the following day I went back to posting and interacting, but with a lot less scrolling…Which brings me to the 6 things that happened when I took a week off social media…

1. I improved my German skills – I recently set an intention to improve my German language skills and had started using Duolingo again. But the pull of social media often kept me from choosing to do the daily exercises.  It was always so much easier to click over to social media and mindlessly scroll…  But without the ability to simply click over to Facebook or Instagram, I found myself choosing to hop on Duolingo instead.  Und das war eine gute Sache!
2. I visited old friends in person – when was the last time you spontaneously showed up to surprise a friend? Does this idea leave you gasping at the thought of showing up without a text first?  Or having someone show up at your house unannounced?  In the “old days” this happened all the time… True friends don’t care what your house looks like or if you’ve put on your makeup.  I’ll take the hug in real life over the picture on social media any day.
3. I colored – I love coloring and I recently found the Lake app which means I can color any time without needing a coloring book and markers, and it actually feels like I’m coloring (with a stylus).  Yes, this (and Duolingo) are apps on my phone, but this wasn’t a complete digital sabbatical, it was only a break from the noise of social media.
4. I read more – I’ve always been an actual book vs e-book person and at any given time, I have at least five books checked out from the library. Without the pull of social media, I found myself reaching for my book instead of reaching for my phone.  This was a welcome change, especially now that the winter season has arrived and I’m ready to embrace hygge at home by the fire, in my slippers, with a good book.
5. I planned details for upcoming trips – I love traveling and planning trips. I’m all for using the online world to get information and inspiration to travel but when the online scrolling becomes more about seeing what other people are doing instead of planning for what I really want to be doing, then it becomes a distraction that’s stealing my joy and taking me further away from my dreams.
6. I better managed my energy – The day I logged back on and started scrolling, my eyes welled up with tears. Not because I had missed social media, but because of the emotional posts amidst the noise.  Although I’ve drastically cleaned up my feeds, I never know what’s going to show up as I’m scrolling, in the pictures, headlines or comments (Facebook, I'm looking at you...).  As I looked through my feed, I found my energy decreasing and my mind becoming distracted with things I hadn’t planned to focus on.  It reminded me that I have limited energy and that I get to choose how to manage it.  Limiting my social media intake gives me more energy for things that matter most.

Social media is just one element of your digital world (think email, computer files, texts, contacts, notes, photos, music, e-books, downloads, passwords, apps, notifications, online subscriptions, calendars, lists, and more…), but it’s one that I believe can steal more of your life than all of the others combined.For as much as I’d like to go back to the days of Laura Ingalls Wilder and avoid the digital world completely, that’s not the direction we’re headed.  Technology is a good thing, but like all things in life, we have a choice on how to use it and we can stop it from becoming a bad thing in our lives.I thrive on keeping my life simple, including my digital world.  And I love helping others do the same.  Less mental clutter, more productivity, and more presence are just a few of the benefits of having control over your digital world.If you want to spend more time doing things that bring you joy, I encourage you to consider taking time off social media.  A few days, a week, or longer.  See what happens.