I Quit Social Media and I Liked it

Maybe you are one of those people reading this as you are simultaneously refreshing your Facebook and Instagram feeds just waiting for that extra like. Or maybe you have also quit social media and find that you have more time to read posts such as this once. Whatever the answer, we cannot deny the overhaul that social media has taken on our lives and those around us.

I have been social media free for a little over a month now. I decided, on a whim, that I was spending too much time scrolling through feeds and liking "friends'" posts, most of whom I hadn't even seen in person in years. I would check it in the morning as soon as I woke up, in the bathroom at work, while stuck in traffic (I know, terrible), and always, right before I went to bed. So, how has it been since quitting?

Both incredible and incredibly sad.

On the one hand, I have been able to focus a lot more on the people that are actually in my life, my real-life friends. And, the fact that I have to say "real-life friends" pretty much says it all. It dawned on me the creepiness of having so many acquaintances know every aspect of my life. I'll never forget running into a group of people I went to high school with. They were all quite popular, definitely not a group within my own circle. It had been about six years since graduation and I hadn't seen them since. All of the sudden they were congratulating me on my travels and new jobs that I had obtained over the years. I didn't even realize we were still friends on Facebook! It freaked me out a little, to say the least.

And then, on the other hand, quitting social media has made me so much more aware of how addicted everyone else around me is. I'll be sitting with friends and catch them sneak a peek at their notifications as a waiter comes to take our orders or watch them grab their phone as they excuse themselves to the bathroom. I'll come home to my roommate asking me how my day has been only to realize that halfway through my play by play she is staring at her phone with the notorious thumb scroll.

Are our phones an addiction worth worrying about? In regards to humans' social needs, I think so.

At first, it was difficult. I won't lie. I thought about it all the time. I didn't tell anyone I was disappearing, but rather just went black to any person that is not actually in my present life. I thought, well maybe I should hop back on to tell them my plan, to let them know I'm OK! And then I realized, if anyone were to care, then they would have been more active in my day to day life.

That's not to put blame or anger towards any of my social media followers for not having a relationship with me outside of a computer screen and keys. It is simply a fact that there can only be so many people that are physically and mentally there for you day to day, and I have chosen to put more effort into those friends in real life rather than the ones that exist through filters and edited posts.