I’ll get to the point: if you’re feeling unfulfilled in your life, it may be time to take a break from social media. Or quit it all together.
I mean, Instagram did kind of colonize our lives.
A tad dramatic? Allow me to explain.
Yes, I know what you’re thinking..
These technologies do wonders for people.
Struggling artists find an audience for their work on social media. We’ve all made good friends through Instagram.
So what’s the problem?
This is it: It’s not that social media doesn’t provide us with some value.
The problem is that these technologies have completely overtaken our lives.
Before we could ever question, “What do I really want from this app that I spend 20 hours a week on?”…
spending 6 hours a day on Instagram became normal.
So yeah. There’s the backstory.
Now I’m gonna try to convince you that quitting social media will change your life.
Because it truly changed mine. Ready?
Here are 6 reasons why I quit social media, and why I think you should too.
1. Clarity, or lack of.
Look, before when I spent 8 hours a day on my phone, I didn’t know who I was.
And I don’t mean that I didn’t know that I loved grilled cheese sandwiches, maybe more than Jane (the virgin).
Or that I still love to sing Hannah Montana songs when no one was watching.
I mean I didn’t know what I wanted from life.
I thought I wanted fame, money, love. Okay, that last one is still true.
The point is, I looked to other people to find what would make me feel accomplished.
Because when I saw someone famous writing books and making TikTok videos about grilled cheese, I suddenly wanted to too.
Now that sounds funny, doesn’t it?
But that’s exactly how most people feel when they are shown the perfect pictures of the world while they have no clue what they want, what’s important to them.
And then suddenly you’re 22 and graduating college and packing your bags to travel the world when you have no money, or quitting your job to become a “life coach”, not because that’s what you value , but because someone with an aesthetic insta feed looked super dope doing it.
2. Comparison.. and fame
We all want the same thing, right?
Happiness. Contentment. Fulfillment. Meaning in life. A purpose.
Well, spending so much time looking at others definition of success made me really hungry for one thing:
To feel important.
I quit social media because I looked at people who seemed to have it all, all day long, and I wanted what they had.
But the happiness only comes when you stop chasing more and start being happy with less.
3. Conversation and Connections
I didn’t really have strong connections with people in real life.
But on Instagram.. that was a different story.
I could control how people saw me there.
Of course, when I used social media I felt less alone, more alive, and like I serve some sort of purpose because I looked like a really cool person.
Oh come on, don’t judge. Haven’t you seen my feed? 😉
Anyway, when I quit social media, I made time for real people.
You know, ones you can touch and lol with.
And that was so much more fulfilling than leaving “queen” comments on their posts but never being able to muster up the courage to talk to them in real life.
4. An addiction called escapism
I think it’s pretty clear by now that most of us can’t really deal with negative emotions in our world today.
Memes save the day when you feel like crying.
So when I felt like crying because life was crap, I turned to my phone. The best shoulder to cry on.
Of course, this was deeper than social media.
It was about bad habits and my negative perception of my self.
It was about neglecting what was important because I didn’t trust myself enough.
Problems make life interesting, they make us human. I quit social media to finally quit escaping my problems.
5. Clutter is costly
This is simple.
More time on the phone = less time on things that fill your heart with butterflies.
Or sparkly red heart emojis, if you prefer.
If you want to do something, you need to devote time and make the effort.
And when you quit social media, it frees up time and mental space to not only do more but reflect more on what in the world we actually want to do.
6. FOMO, or lack thereof
Okay, I’m gonna be brutally honest with you here.
If you want to quit social media, you have to let go of the FOMO from not knowing what your fifth-grade crush is up to.
Or what your favorite YouTuber is going for her matcha.
I know. How can we possibly be okay with that?
Well, that’s easy.
Just ask yourself: is it worth spending six hours a day on your phone?
Is it worth everything else you’re losing by not devoting time to other things?
You have to be okay with missing out on some things, to create space for bigger things.
Things that actually fulfill you.
“You have to be okay with missing out on some things, to create space for bigger things.”
Now, that was a lot. And I know it’s not easy.
As someone who once derived every ounce of whatever little self-worth I had from Instagram, I know it’s not easy.
But I can tell you one thing for sure:
It is worth it.