I quit social media for a month so I
quit Facebook Instagram snapchat and
Twitter just needed a break it was time
to cut myself off I stopped using social
media this morning and my brain is going
crazy I just realized how often I glance
down just to see if I have a
notification when I wake up in the
morning on the way to work on the train
walking from the train to work sometimes
at work sorry when I get home from work
it's constant I watched a TED talk by
dr. Cal Newport and he said going on
social media is like going to the casino
you're anticipating getting liked and
you come out of it you go back in
thinking I'll get the reward next time
I'll get the reward next time I'll get
the reward next time and you just sit
around waiting for a notification to
come around so you can go back I think
I'm probably not the only person in my
generation who feels this way I have
friends who use Facebook to promote
their music shows and send invites for
birthday parties it's a very big part of
my social life and that might be
something I'm missing I'm hoping with
this social media fast that my brain
will kind of recalibrate itself go back
to my life pre social media I hope to
become more focused more productive for
my brain to be a little less scattered
and all over the place I really hope I
inspire other people to do this because
as an avid social media user I'd like to
prove that we don't need it
the first day of my social media cleanse
was a Friday so I was at work and I
wasn't shouldn't have been on my phone
anyway I woke up on Saturday to go to
brunch with my friend she was an hour
late and I had nothing to distract
myself day two my solution for being
social media free was let's text every
person I know because I'm so bored and
then once I got back to work it got a
little easier coworkers were trying to
get me to watch videos on Twitter within
the first week I was cured of my
addictive thumb swiping and checking my
phone
I wake up feeling way more rested I
spend nine hours a day staring at a
screen at my job and cutting down on
screen time outside of the office has
changed my world I don't have as many
headaches I don't feel tired all the
time it just like makes so much sense as
the experiment went on I started to feel
like there were extra hours in the day
like I was given this gift of reading
time and cooking time and exercise time
I realized that once I'm tired I just
surrender I just go to bed it's like
whatever I don't need to sit there and
be like must stay awake must consume
content it's like no just go to bed
freak but this experiment has
revolutionized my productivity at work
if you had checked in with me before
this experiment I would have 30 tabs
open doing like random research and
tweeting and checking slack I was a
Productivity nightmare my well-being has
improved tenfold my mind has never been
so clear I feel like I'm learning how to
properly communicate in a world without
social media I've been given more time
with my thoughts I know a lot of people
who will mind numbingly scroll instead
of just sitting with their thoughts and
dealing with their emotions and all the
things that have happened in their day
and their week in their month you got to
focus on ourselves for a little bit and
not every random stranger you're friends
with on Facebook
I learned that FOMO isn't real if you
don't know what you're missing out on if
there was a party that I missed I don't
know about it so I don't care I'm not
seeing people's instagrams from it I'm
not seeing snapchat videos and I'm not
feeling like I missed out on anything
because I'm not seeing it I would urge
you to delete one social media app from
your phone see if you miss it see if it
changes your life see if you notice how
much time you had been spending on that
app
I was really scared of quitting social
media at first I thought I would miss
out on a ton of things it actually
turned out to be the best choice I've
ever made and I'd really encourage you
to do the same
[Music]