In 2020, I left Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter as part of a goal to simplify my life. Three years later, here are some of things I was missing out on when I had social media.
Life isn’t meant to be looked at constantly. When I had social media, I got really tired of constantly thinking to myself while doing things: “I could share this, wouldn’t people think it was so funny/beautiful/cute/interesting?"
After leaving, I started thinking about how I wanted to live life, and started changing things. Somehow, doing it without any attention made the changes stronger and made me enjoy the little moments more.
In 2021, I started a sourdough starter. I actually carried it around with me at school sometimes and made lots of bread for friends and my now husband! I learned a lot in the process about bread, and I still spend lots of time making bread!
Another thing that changed was the amount of time I spend on my phone in general. Yes, I still spend time on YouTube and sometimes Pinterest can be a time sink, but overall I spend under 3 hours on my phone a day and I spend a lot more time doing things with friends, reading, cleaning, and cooking, all of which are a lot more fun than Insagram reels.
Social media creates a false sense of community, because it often groups people together who are similar via friend recommendations. In real life, a wide variety of age, race, ethnic background, political thought, interests, and stages of life are found in communities like schools, neighborhoods, churches, and workplaces. Having a wider number of perspectives is helpful to prevent things like groupthink, where the desire for harmony overrides rational response.
I was not aware of how pervasive "Instagram politics" are until I left and realized that a lot of that is primarily hot takes by young women, and not actually fair or supportive of the rest of society. I’ve found that being aware of more perspectives makes me a better critical thinker.
Everyone says this is a perk of less screen time, but is it actually true? Sort of. It certainly won't change your sleep immediately. However, I have noticed some changes
I used to go to bed using my phone, but now it lives in another room while I sleep. I typically sleep harder and longer because I’m no longer using my phone for an hour while lying in bed. Also, I now have a proper bed time and a time to get up, which makes life so much better.
It’s easy for life to feel fast paced, but taking steps to slow down (much like Lightning McQueen does in the classic children’s movie Cars) can raise your quality of life. Some of the things I’ve been recommended are things like having a Sabbath day, setting a quiet time routine, or just spending some time in silence.
Leaving social media has helped me slow life down. Not seeing what everyone else is doing at all times helps me refocus on what’s going on in my life, and spending time walking or reading instead has been beneficial for my soul.
You have less privacy online. It’s a fact of life now, made more aggressive by the constant encouragement to share “what makes you, you!” Anyone with access to your social media accounts has a lot of information about you. In the age of zero privacy, removing yourself from social media can help bring back a private personal life, one that matters to you and to the people around you.
To continue the simplification of my life and improve its quality, this semester of college I will be taking a break from at least 75% of my time on YouTube, the largest form of social media that I still participate in. I’m not going to cut it 100% because I find enjoyment in watching videos with my husband, but I’m going to greatly lessen my exposure to it and report what I’ve learned from it at the end of this semester!