No Social Media For A Month!! AAAHHHHHHH

I watched this video roughly three minutes ago and really dug it.  It’s about a couple who decided to not use the internet for a month.  In a bid to generally take action when I run across something cool, I decided to take action.  I’m going to take the rest of the month off of social media, and substantially limit my internet use.  I am well aware nobody else cares.  But, read this article and maybe you’ll follow me.

I’ve been kicking the idea around for a while because I hate how addicted I am to my phone.  I am cognizant of how silly we are just staring into our screens even though WE KNOW nothing we scroll through will increase our level of life satisfaction.  Almost none of it makes us any happier, even in the moment.

We’re always looking for that next unicorn post that’s going to make a tangible difference in our lives.  We hardly ever find it, but the allure of social media is so addicting that we’re constantly scrolling for it.  Doing this day after day is making us depressed.  Life is passing us by while we stare into our phones and we know it.  

Three minutes ago…

…I actually did find that unicorn post when I ran across the video of a couple who decided to give up the internet for a month.  I would love to do that but I don’t want to be as hardcore as them.  They went 0 to 100 real quick with the no internet thing.  No podcasts, no news other than newspapers, only checking email like twice a week for ten minutes each, limiting themselves to two movie nights per week etc.  While I like this idea, I am not that brave.

I want to be able to download podcasts, read articles and generally use the internet as long as it’s mindful.  Also, I want watch as much TV as I want this month.  TV is another habit that I would love to kick but I don’t want to go all haywire and bite off more than I can chew.  In a different month I will tackle my TV habit.

Also, I’m kind of excited to watch TV without being allowed to mindlessly scroll through my phone.  Imagine what it would be like to watch an entire movie without missing large segments from habitually scrolling social media?!

TV is one of the few forms of entertainment you can ingest while caring for a newborn, so it for sure stays.  For now.  It’s much harder to read a book, play an instrument, or write a blog post while holding a cantankerous baby.

The Dark Side of Social Media

My primary goal is increasing my overall happiness.  Social media, and just wasting time in general, doesn’t increase our happiness.  Not only does social media not make us any happier, but it actively depresses us.  People don’t post the boring or monotonous parts of their lives.  They post only the best moments and even those moments are highly edited to look better than they really are.

Social media leaves us feeling like we’re getting left behind while everyone who is anyone is out exploring the most exotic beaches and living their best life.  It’s hard to give it all up because we don’t want to be forgotten and left behind.  We sacrifice hours and hours of our lives while we mindlessly scroll through feed after feed looking for something to make us chuckle or feel inspired.

I will say social media is great for making us feel more connected to friends and family.  It makes the miles between us in Portland and our families in Montana not seem so far.  That being said, we pay a heavy price in order to get that connection.  If we could learn to harness the power of social media without giving in to the siren song of endless scrolling, it could be an incredible benefit that leaves us happier for using it.  It’s hard though, because we don’t just use social media to feel connected. We use it to be jealous and make others jealous.  Mostly, we use it to fend off the dreaded B-word.

Boredom is underrated.

We mindlessly scroll through life with the sole purpose of not being bored. We don’t realize we’re trading an awful lot for that convenience.  We’re agreeing to stare blankly into this tiny computer in our hands for hours every day just so we can avoid that uncomfortable feeling of boredom.

I want to spend less time mindlessly going through life.  Step one of this is to stop mindlessly being on my phone.  One day, when I grow up, I would like to be able to trust myself to use my phone as a tool, instead of a crutch; use it mindfully, not mindlessly.  Actually, I want to get to the point where I generally live more of my life mindfully, but we’ll start with phone time.

Next: TV

Once I kick my addiction to my phone I would like to move on to kicking my TV habit.  I was recently mildly stressed out because I didn’t know the next series we should start on Netflix.  I love when we have a good series we’re into because it means we don’t have to do the dreaded Netflix scroll of shame.

Somehow, watching hours of Netflix feels less icky when we don’t spend the first 30 minutes trying to find something to watch.  Scrolling through endless viewing options for longer than it would actually take to watch something really drives home the point that we are indeed wasting time.

I always find myself scrolling through social media while I’m watching TV.  Important plot points are routinely missed because I was looking at my phone.  I couldn’t tell you why my brain felt it was somehow more important to read a random meme than it was to pay attention to the climax of the movie, but it seems to happen fairly regularly.  I know I’m not the only one to do this.

Here’s my plan:

When I think of living a purposeful life, I’ve replaced mindless phone and TV time with writing (either blog or my long lost mystery novel), practicing music, exercising, reading real people books, or doing projects that I feel like I should like doing but I don’t really like doing.

I’m going to delete social media from my phone as well as any other time wasting apps.  The goal is to make my phone as boring as possible so as not to tempt my limited willpower.  I will allow myself to check email on my phone and read articles, but all social media is off limits.

Mindlessly scrolling through the internet is also not allowed, but I am allowed to use the internet to look something up.  I can download podcasts, listen to pandora, but I can’t play games on my phone.

Wish me luck!

Just because I’m limiting my phone use doesn’t mean you shouldn’t at least click on one or two of these articles.

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