I stopped using Instagram and YouTube for 30 days and here’s what happened.
Technology is a double-edged sword; it comes with its share of pros and cons. But the problem arrives when the cons far outweigh the pros.
I’ve been an avid reader for the last 5 years now and I’ve read 250+ books on a variety of topics across many genres. I majorly consume nonfiction and self-help content.
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By looking at things from a third-person perspective I came to realize that my ability to concentrate has decreased dramatically in the past 2 years because of the consumption of an endless stream of content on various social media platforms on a regular basis.
I felt less energetic, less happy, and more anxious. And all of these things were happening at a much deeper level. And I was not able to extract the joy that I felt while reading a book.
One day I was done consuming content mindlessly and decided to have a digital detox for 10 days.
Here are the changes that I felt during those first ten days and which got me motivated to extend this detox for 20 more days.
The First 2–3 days were not easy, my brain craved those behaviors of scrolling social media and watching youtube videos but I didn’t deliver it to my brain. I was determined to continue this struggle to know what is waiting for me on the other side of the tunnel.
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After the initial week came a honeymoon period where you ask yourself, why you were spending so much time on these platforms in the first place.
I could sense that my superpowers were coming back, I could read for hours without even a hint of craving for social media.
I felt that suddenly I have more than 24 hours in a day to get all things done and still have time left to wash the dishes, make my bed, and do other household chores.
My sleep cycle improved, previously I used to sleep around midnight and sometimes way past midnight. But now with no social media, I feel sleepy much earlier. And let me tell you, the seeds of a good day are sowed during a good night’s sleep.
When I slept well, my body felt good, I felt more energetic and less groggy. And felt motivated to repeat good behaviors throughout the next day with little or no effort.
When I had nothing else to do I just sat by myself and let my thoughts wander like a kite in the sky. It felt good by doing nothing at all. It gave me time to reflect on my life and my goals. These boring sessions turned out to be the most productive use of my time because I always came up with a new idea or a new perspective that helped me see things and live a little differently.
I became more mindful of the little things around me, I don’t know for sure but I felt more empathetic. I was eating without a screen in front of me so I felt more mindful & grateful for every bite of food and surprisingly felt more full with less food.
I have been working out for about a year now, and during these 30 days, it made me feel the same way, worst at first and invincible by the end of the workout.
I read the books that I always wanted to read but I was delaying them for some reason. I felt stupid about spending so much time on social media because the whole concept of watching funny cat videos, memes, and all of the toxic media cluttered my mind to a level that I wasn’t feeling good, I felt disconnected from myself.
A life without social media is much more addictive than the glamor of social media platforms. But it is a road less traveled and the first few days will feel like you are missing a limb but as you spend more days without it, the life of no social media will seduce you to a level that you will not feel like your old self again.
My personal opinion on this is quite simple and practical
Excess of anything is bad is what people usually say, but the thing with social media platforms is that they are much more addictive than we perceive them to be, design engineers are earning 6 figure salaries to make them addictive by exploiting the psychology of human behavior. So it is very difficult to draw a line where you can set rules and follow them.
Solution: Find yourself an accountability partner who is as motivated to change as you are or even more and set some strict ground rules among each other to achieve each other’s shared goals.
