just over a year ago I'd say my social
media use was pretty typical up until
that point I didn't place any
limitations or boundaries on how I used
it I'd wake up looking at Instagram
spend much of the day posting to Twitter
and I used Facebook to see my high
school classmates fight over politics
you know how it was intended to be used
then I saw my friend Jason Zook make a
post on Instagram saying that he was
taking the month off
he was deleting social media from his
phone and logging out of all accounts on
his computer for 30 days my entire
identity was tied to who I was online
and I felt like if I didn't poster I
wasn't there it was like I wasn't even
doing anything interesting I wasn't an
interesting person it's like that is
such a messed up thought when you get to
that place like you're no longer in
control of how you're using that
platform that platform is controlling
you and I was like I have to take the
power back
Jason's posts piqued my interest but I
couldn't help but think that he was
making a huge mistake
you see Jason like myself runs his
business online and relies on social
media to keep that engine running I
looked at what he was doing and thought
oh my god
all your followers all these people that
have been waiting to hear from you year
after year are gonna forget that you
existed and I also thought oh my god
you're also gonna miss out on all this
inspiration and value and connections
that you get through social media
my reaction was similar to the first
time I heard about minimalism that's
great for him but I would never be able
to do it because of fill-in-the-blank
the excuses and rationalizations worked
for a bit it would put my life's work in
jeopardy I told myself I'd stop making
money i digitally fall off the face of
the earth but then Jason quit social
media came back and well the world kept
turning and his business was fine as it
turns out he's been doing it for years
twice a year in fact it is the most
clarity of thought during those times
it's like everything recalibrates for me
I get this whole refreshed creativity
it's like I was talking about recharging
those batteries like I'm itching to get
back to stuff by the end of 30 days but
I'm also really excited because it's
like I've taken control of these
platforms and then I can go back and go
yeah I didn't that's fine I did I miss
some stuff I didn't post things and
guess what everybody's still here you
know nothing really changed it's one of
those things that's so simple yet we
often never think about it it's like
switching up a gym routine that we've
grown bored of or ending a relationship
that's toxic and negative or maybe even
quitting a job that you've been dragging
your feet to a lot of times we do things
because that's the way that they've
always been done but the truth is that
is a horrible reason to do anything so I
began to think about it some more I mean
really how bad could it be what could
really go wrong by committing to 30 days
and come to think of it Instagram had
really been stressing me out lately and
as much as I enjoy the drama every once
in a while
Facebook's seem like a complete waste of
time and I keep accidentally offending
people on Twitter okay
maybe intentionally I wondered how my
days would change without it how much
more productive I would become how much
more peaceful my mornings and nights
would be and then I did it I quit social
media for 30 days and I made a video
about it there's a sense of clarity that
you get when you take a step away from
the compulsive checking it's really hard
to explain it's really impossible to
quantify but I can tell you that I
simply felt better by being away from it
so I saw a ton of benefits in that
30-day period that small window when I
did the social media detox but what was
most surprising to me
were the changes that occurred after
that would be the 400 days since I went
on that detox until today and some of
those changes still stick with me to
this day to begin with it was the first
30-day challenge I completed on this
channel which led me to do another
eleven in the year that followed as I
experimented with everything from cold
showers to counting calories and
quitting coffee that alone was a great
takeaway to feed my curiosity for
experimenting with new things and
pushing myself further out of my comfort
zone and leaning more into my own
self-development that I had in years
but I didn't realize just how impactful
it would be on how I used social media a
lot of times we try experiments and
challenges and we attempt to build
habits only to inevitably fall back into
our old patterns and routines this is
probably the most frustrating thing
about trying to build a habit yet
something about quitting social media
for 30 days just click something in my
head it woke me up to the problem that
social media had become in my own life
and I realize just how much of a
distraction it was how little I needed
it and how little I missed it once I
left and so there were changes that
stuck beyond that 30 days that I have
continued to uphold since then first I
haven't kept any social media apps on my
phone consistently instead I install
them when I want to use them sometimes
for an hour sometimes for a day and then
I delete them these days the only app
that I do that with is Instagram your
self restraint might be a little bit
better than mine but I personally find
that I quickly and compulsively default
to checking Instagram when its installed
on my phone the challenge you'll likely
find is that once you delete social
media from your phone you'll immediately
replace it with something else whether
it's reddit the news a video game
another distracting app it's like
whack-a-mole for apps and so to prevent
this from happening the best thing that
I found to do is to actually increase
your distance from your phone so leave
your phone in your bedroom leave it in
your car or leave it at home whatever
you do just don't leave it on you after
my social media detox I also decided to
stop using Facebook I deleted my public
Facebook account
and only use my private account for
Facebook messenger which I rarely use at
that as much as I love sitting back and
watching the high school drama unfold it
just wasn't worth holding on to my
favorite change since I slowed down my
time on social I compared myself to
others much less often I'm reminded
every time I log into Instagram just how
much that little boys in the back of my
head starts to talk [ __ ] that person's a
better filmmaker than you wow they're
much further along in their career than
you and hey that guy's got bigger biceps
than you no matter where you're at in
life it's difficult not to have these
kind of thoughts and I find that that
constant scrolling only helped to
support them on and on the boys goes
making comparisons and accusations
against my worth yes there are ways to
control this voice like through
meditation but I find that not feeding
it to begin with helps the most so I
don't and hey side note I think that
sometimes distractions are actually a
good thing sometimes we have bad days
we're frustrated we just want to go
browse Netflix click on something that's
gonna allow us to turn our brains off we
want to scroll through social media and
see what our friends are up to
we just want a distraction from a shitty
day and I think that's completely okay I
think what I'm talking about here is
more so when these problems become so
big that we start to overlook other
areas of our life we're not going to the
gym as much we're maybe feeling like
we're in a negative spiral because we
keep comparing ourselves to others now
that's where I think the changes really
need to happen when I come back to it I
then get super intentional about how I
use it so then I go okay I check
Instagram twice a day because man I
would love to scroll through Instagram
all day long cuz it's great it's a
curated feed of beautiful things it's
really awesome it's really interesting
but I don't want it to control my life I
want the time that that's taking up to
be creating things of my own to be
exploring experimenting other things and
so you really do just become intentional
you take that break and then you come
back and go I don't want that stuff
anymore to happen in my life like I
don't want to feel like I'm not in
control of my usage of these things and
so that's why these social media detoxes
man they've just been so so helpful for
me now here's the part where I throw it
back to you what if you quit social
media for 30 days don't worry the world
is going to keep turning
and we'll be here when you get back
thanks for watching and I'll see you
next time