Taking a Break from Social Media

When someone comes back from taking a break from social media, what do you hear them say? “It was amazing!” “So liberating!” “It felt so good, but I missed you guys so much, I just had to come back.”

When we take a social media break, what are we being freed from? What is happening that life becomes so amazing? And if it’s so liberating, why do we keep coming back?

Watch: Mental Wellbeing – Taking a Social Media Break

Would you consider taking a social media break? I just did. Here’s what I learned.

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Taking a Break from Social Media

So, my team and I make every effort to take a break from social media around twice a year, and we have just come off of this two-week stint.  

As we come back, we are considering the effects of social media on mental wellbeing. We are re-evaluating how we see these platforms and how we are going to use these tools moving forward on the TPJ side of things. And I think there will be some changes and adjustments. We will keep you posted on that.

On a more personal side, there are many compelling reasons why you may want to take a social media break – and many I have experienced first hand. 

4 Reasons to Take a Social Break

Here are 4 major reasons why you may want to take a social break:

1. Our Time Gets Wasted

I mean, it’s frightening to think the amount of time that we’re spending on social networks. It could add up to an entire career. We could write books. It could be time spent with our kids. It could be working out. We are enslaved in that sense because there’s so much stuff we could be doing with that time. 

2. Our Money Gets Spent

At the end of the day, we have to remember that social media is one big advertising machine. We end up spending money on things we probably don’t want, don’t need, and never intended to spend. 

3. Our Thinking is Altered

Social media subconsciously influences our decision-making processes, our developments of theories, and ideas in our lives. It will basically indoctrinate us in various directions and that will enslave us as well.

 4. Our Focus is Shifted

When focusing on social media, we are unable to focus on real-life, relationships, and realities. It takes us away from our real life. It takes us away from the other things, to the extent that sometimes, the joke that, “if I don’t post it on Instagram, it didn’t happen” isn’t such a funny joke anymore.

My Personal Experience with Social Media Detoxing

Taking a social media break helps me to be a much better person. A much better parent. And a much better partner. My attention is suddenly right where it needs to be - where the true relationships in my life exist.via @ParentingJunkieTweet This

In my own personal life, I have many experiences with social media detoxing. Lately, I have felt this strong urge to pull back, to be less involved and less engaged online.

When I take the weekend off of screens (and I do every weekend,) I feel an incredible surge in my mental health.

And now I’ve just taken two weeks off of my social media and I can’t help but notice that taking a social media break helps me to be a much better person. A much better parent. And a much better partner. My attention is suddenly right where it needs to be – where the true relationships in my life exist.

Considering the Pros and Cons of Social Media

I don’t want to discount all of the wonderful things that social media has afforded us. Throughout lockdown, on the one hand, it suddenly became a lifesaver because we weren’t connected with other people, and this is how we could connect. And on the other hand, perhaps social media became more of an addiction, caused more anxiety, and had more stress around it.

If you’re considering taking a break from social media, here are ways to develop a more optimistic mindset around it.

How to Have a More Optimistic Mindset Around Social Media Breaks

The benefits are clear.  I’ve seen them manifest in my own life. Social media breaks will help you see life in a different way. And by sharing these mindset shifts, I hope that it will help you to have a more optimistic mindset around social media breaks. 

Ask Yourself – Is Social Media Your Servant or Your Master?

I invite you to consider this thought – at this moment, is social media your servant or master? 

If it’s your master, how you can liberate yourself from that? Is it technical things like erasing apps, having your partner hide your phone from you, or tracking your screen time usage every day that would help you?

Or is social media doing something else for you?

Also Ask – What Itch is it Scratching? 

You can also begin to become self-aware and start noticing what you are doing while on social media. What itch is it scratching?

• Is it a lonely itch?
• An itch that’s looking for validation?
• Is it an itch that’s looking for entertainment?
• And how can we get those needs met elsewhere?
• And why might we want to do that?

I think those are all things that are worth considering.

Taking a Break from Social Media

I think taking a break from social media might serve us all well. We free ourselves from being enslaved by social networks when we take a social break. We become attuned to what really happens online – cancel culture, call-out culture, and what is lost.  Our life becomes so amazing because we discover more time, more money, clearer thoughts and we remember to focus on what truly matters. 

Have you ever taken a break from social media? What was it like?