To be honest, I can’t remember the last time I went a day without being on social media, and I really didn’t think I could take a day off of it, let alone a week. Social media is huge. There has only been one person I’ve met my age who isn’t on it.
When I heard the challenge for people to take a week off of social media (it was a challenge for the youth/young adults in my religion) I thought that it didn’t really apply to me. I am trying to grow my blog, so to go off of it sounded like I would be missing out on opportunities to grow. It wasn’t until I saw other people, some who blog and some who have small businesses, take a week off that I changed my mind and I decided to do the challenge.
I knew for me personally that I needed to take a week off of social media. I had become so consumed in it that it was almost a burden to be on it. I didn’t enjoy what I was posting and I just felt stressed to try to grow my social media presence. What I was anticipating to be the hardest day of the challenge was actually the easiest day. My first day off of social media was a breath of fresh air. I didn’t miss it at all! I felt more productive, engaged, and I felt a relief to not have to think about interacting so much on social platforms.
I had a couple of goals for myself during the week I took off from social media. My main goal was to take a week off in order to come back and figure out how to better moderate my time on social media. I definitely spend too much time on it, so I wanted to be able to schedule time during the day or put limits on how much time I spend on it so I don’t waste too much time.
I wanted to enjoy what was actually going on around me more. Babies don’t stay babies forever, and Tanner and I really want to enjoy what we are expecting to be our last spring in Idaho. It rained a lot this last week, but we love the rain and the thunderstorms. We were able to enjoy a few hours at the park on Saturday, and Lillian is literally such an outside girl so she had a blast. It was a great idea to get out of the house together as a family.
School has been a beast this semester. I had a huge statistics test coming up this past week, and I had to pass it otherwise I probably wouldn’t pass the class. I am not being dramatic, I failed the first test, haha. I had to dedicate time to studying for that test and my other test for adolescent development that was also this past weekend. I was able to study a lot for this test and I had very little distractions, besides motherly duties. I passed both tests, and I was even able to pass them with some cushion(yay, huge sigh of relief).
I am really glad I took a week off of social media. This past week was such a nice break. I feel I was able to recalibrate and relax. I wasn’t as worried about what people thought, and I felt more in tune with what was going on around me. I needed this last week and I have seen how it has helped me.
I plan to take days here and there, when needed, to take time off of social media. It is good to not constantly be checking your phone, and if you are having a hard time with anything in your life, maybe consider taking a break from it too.
If you are considering whether or not you can take a week off from social media, you can. Don’t doubt yourself! I promise you won’t be missing out on much. If you are, then I am sure someone will inform you on who had a baby, got a puppy, or whatever happened during the time you were gone.
Keep in mind, the most important relationships you have are with those around you. Social media is great and it is great to connect, but ask yourself who is more important to be connecting with—those you see through the screen of a phone, or those you’d be able to contact face to face if you removed the phone blocking them from your vision?
I am so glad you had a chance to take a break and relax. I just went on vacation and the break from social media was wonderful.
I love this! I’m so glad you had a good experience with this and were able to get some of the stuff done that you might not have made as much time for before! I used to be really obsessed with being on social media, but lately I find that I actually have to force myself to go on more since it’s part of my job now. I literally have a habit tracker in my bullet journal just for reminding myself that I NEED to go on more in order to earn enough money haha. But I can see how this challenge would benefit a lot of people and how it would’ve benefited me in the past! I love the thought of this challenge and may do a version of it someday that’s more unique to what I need and based on HOW I use social media (making sure I’m trying to help others with my pictures, not just trying to draw attention to myself, etc). I also wish my little sister would do this challenge because she’s OBSESSED with social media right now, just like I would have been at her age. Every time I see her, she’s on her phone like 90% of the time and it makes me so sad! And it’s sad to think that I was like that too a year or so ago! And could easily become like that again if I’m not careful. This was such a wonderful post, Caitlyn! 🙂
Love that you took the risk to have some moments of peace. Social media can definitely cause more stress than we’re willing to admit.
Denise | http://theelleaesthetic.com/
I really love this! I’ve been finding myself obsessing over social media and that myself/my life doesn’t look like other bloggers and it’s really damaging so I really do need to take a bit of a step back. Thank you for sharing this!
I definitely can obsess over social media too! It is hard because everyone puts their best foot forward and so it can seem that everyone has their life so well put together, but I promise that you’re doing so much better than you think! You have a great blog and you are proactive with it!