We live in a time where we are addicted to our phones and can’t even seem to survive 1-2 hours without them. We are constantly checking Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat and watching YouTube videos to see what everyone else out there is doing. The posts we see are a very slim portion of these people’s lives. All they show us are the highlights. It can lead us to feel inadequate and worthless. We wonder why we can’t be living amazing lives like these other people we see. We can become anxious and depressed and it’s extremely unhealthy.
But what you don’t see are the low points of those people with thousands of followers. These social media “stars” are human. They feel alone, sad, and anxious, just like you and I. Thankfully, I’m seeing more and more people today that are being transparent on social media. They are starting to show that they aren’t perfect and that they struggle too.
We love to document every aspect of our lives. We take and post pictures of what we’re eating, what we’re doing, and where we’re traveling. We forget to live in the moment because we are so fixated on what we can show off. Start focusing on living your life for YOU, and stop worrying about documenting it for “likes”.
When I go camping, I usually put my phone in airplane mode for the whole trip. I’ve had friends text me wondering if I’m still alive because I will just shut off from the world completely. But it feels so refreshing to take days off away from any screens. It’s nice to really be in the moment and actually remember what the world is like without a cell phone.
So what I’ve started doing is a social media cleanse. I do it at least once a week. I will take whichever app, delete it, and I won’t allow myself to reinstall it until the next day. It’s surprising how my day changes because of it. There’s an app called “Moment” that can track the time spent on your phone that day. If you’ve never used it, I highly encourage downloading it. The reality check was eye-opening when I realized how much time I aimlessly spent on my phone every day.
Start off small. Try this for a few hours, then a day, then gradually make this a weekly thing. I promise you won’t miss anything and everything will still be there waiting for you when you get back.