How Staying off Social Media has Changed My Life and May Change Yours Too

Hello and welcome! I’m Tori and I am very open about my experiences and how I live my life battling mental illness, Type One Diabetes, and being a young adult in this crazy world.

Social media has become such a huge part of lives it’s hard not to think about social media at every second of every day. But what would a day, week, or even month without social media look like?

We are so deep into our phones, laptops, and iPads we miss so much every day. We miss the two squirrels playing tag in the yard because we were busy texting our friends about watching a movie tonight. We missed the amazing sunset because we were too busy watching the newest episode of Greys Anatomy. Now don’t get me wrong, I use social media daily, for example, I had to write this somewhere and for you to be reading it I posted it somewhere on social media for you to access it. But I truly don’t spend a lot of time on social media, I try to stay off it as much as possible. I love enjoying the real world instead of a reality we build by following people and liking/commenting on everything all day. I was stuck in this cycle too! Don’t worry most people are, and some are truly happy doing this, if that’s you, it’s not a problem just a lot of people are worried about their lives not looking like those on social media or they feel as if they are wasting their lives (FOMO).

I grew up in a stricter household. I’m a free and independent person, I thrive off it, so as a kid social media was all I really had. I searched for friends and companionship through social media (and it got me in quite a bit of trouble too!!). When I got older and got more freedom, more social medias came out, and my friends all had them, I realized that it wasn’t what it was made to seem. I love social media, don’t get it twisted, but I realized there’s a cap to social media like anything else. I went from hanging out with my friends going to the beach, working out for hours a day, and doing things that made me happy to being glued to my phone unable to turn it off, spending way too many hours on the phone compared to practicing for performances and studying for school.

To be honest, it still happens, and I think with the society we live in, it will always happen. WHICH IS OKAY. Not every day has to be beyond productive and feel like you are on top of the world doing everything possible! Also, I didn’t realize what social media was doing to me and my life until college.

Mid-covid first quarantine, I woke up one day and life seemed to have changed, nothing really changed but me. I have always had good grades in college and a decent social life, but I woke up that morning and realized that I wasn’t doing anything I wanted. Of course, I was going to school and pursuing a career I wanted, but that’s not what life’s about. So, I decided to change how I ran my life. I got up in the morning, brushed my hair and teeth, drank some water, and threw on my running shoes. I went running every morning for months, it was a thing I wanted to do and the only thing stopping me from doing it was me and the amount of time I spent on social media, scrolling, wishing I was doing what my friends were. From that day out, I promised myself I wouldn’t sit on my bed scrolling my life away. However, I have gotten lazy, unmotivated, and stressed since that time and that’s okay. I miss the morning runs and protein shakes, I miss the reading a romance novel as the sun set in front of me. I miss a lot, but know I know it must be a conscious decision for me to hold myself accountable to it, because it really did make me a happier and stronger person for it.

I don’t spend a lot of time on my phone or computer in general. Like last week my screen time on my phone was an average of 3 hours per day, and my computer was 2 hours. That doesn’t mean I don’t answer the phone, and texted everyone back, sit on TikTok or scroll through Instagram. I simply just don’t like I live my life when I spend half of my day on my phone and social media. I know I’m not the only one either, I have met so many people who make it a point to stay off, some even deleting it altogether.

I love watching sunsets, reading books, writing (clearly) and being with people more than just sitting together in the same room on our phones. I love making videos and designing craft projects. I love dyeing my hair, taking free classes of anything, and making some bomb food. That’s me, everyone is different. But let me ask you this, if you spent more time off social media and lived, would you feel better? Would life get better? Could you do that project you’ve been thinking about for months? Could you learn how to make that double layer chocolate cake? Could you finally finish that book?

If you answered yes to any of those, try it. You never know, it could be life changing for you too. And if you don’t know how, here’s some ideas. Set an alarm on your phone for X number of minutes and when it goes off, get up and do what you want to do, don’t even think about hitting snooze. Set goals for yourself! For example, when I started running, I wanted to get back down to an 8-minute mile, I did that then got lazy again, this time, my goal will be back down to a 7-minute mile. Some of us need a push to really get motivated, decide on something that seems impossible to make it really happen. Put your mind to it, change your life, it may not happen all at once, but go do the things you want to do, go do the things that you’ve always dreamed of, and stop scrolling them away!