Gracie Girl Blog

I took 3 weeks off of Instagram and Snapchat (and for the most part, Facebook) in January. I’ve done this before and what I learned this time around may surprise you.

First of all, the response I got when I told people I was taking a break was usually either “I need to do that”, “I wish I could do that” or something along those lines. Because I’d done it before, it was easier to adjust this time around, but really anyone can do it- we don’t have to be slaves to the apps.

so here’s what I learned:

• You’ll fill that time somehow. I ended up playing this dumb game called Mega Run a lot. I also started a new book and felt like I had more time to write and draw. It was easier to get focused and do homework without social media.
• It doesn’t magically fix your life. Give it the fanciest name you can (fast, detox, etc.) and the absence of social media will still not cure acne, grant you a full night of sleep or give you a new love for kale and tofu. The absence of social media helps give you more time and space to make good (or bad) choices.
• Lonely is a feeling/state of mind, not a fact. Not being on social media doesn’t cause loneliness. honestly I think it prevents loneliness because you don’t know what everyone else is doing and that’s REFRESHING. I ended up texting people I hadn’t talked to in a while, and overall didn’t feel more or less alone. Im convinced lonely is a feeling not a fact because sometimes I’m alone and the happiest ever to be alone, and other times I’m alone and feel like I have no friends. I think a lot of people feel lonely but I’ve never met someone who truly had NO ONE there for them. We all go through it I guess.
• You do miss stuff. Birthday posts for friends, posts from friends in general you’d usually comment on. But MOST of what I missed is worth missing and irrelevant to life in the long run.
• Maybe we all have phone addictions, but phones are a part of life now. The break made me realize how much my phone in general is a part of my life. Back to Mega Run, I played it in dead times during classes or when I needed a mental break and truly I NEED the mental breaks. A lot of the good things people want to replace social media with (reading, writing, anything that requires focus) aren’t mental breaks. Breaks help increase productivity, so using your phone for those is a good thing. Of course, mental breaks don’t have to involve your phone either.
• I began to ask myself if I missed any posts from certain people/accounts. I follow a good amount of speakers/influencers who usually post long captions, pretty pictures, and daily stories. These people are GREAT but sometimes their content just becomes noise in my life, so I unfollowed some when I got back on. Unfollowing is a great idea sometimes. you can always follow again.
• Snapchat is fun and I love it because I get to see my friends’ faces and that’s pretty much the only reason I still have it.

I did check Facebook about 2 weeks in because I wanted to do something while listening to music (back to the mental break thing).

here are some other random thoughts I’ve had:

• my favorite social media is Instagram, I could do without the others
• snapchat streaks are so dumb and also don’t send me anything if you’re going to send me pics of your ceiling or lamp
• Snapchat and Instagram stories are an art-form, the more stickers/gifs the BETTER

Thanks for reading! 🙂 Hope this helps someone out there!