What Really Happens When You Take 5 Days Off from Social Media

Imagine yourself going one day away from social media or the internet. Sounds easy, right? Wrong.

Last week, I took a little time to reassess myself and take a break from the technological and toxic world of social media. I disconnected from the internet and simply put down the phone for five full days.

In 2019, the act of removing yourself from the outside world for all to see, admire and react to may seem ludicrous to some, impossible to others.

Trust me, I felt that pressure after day one.

I began asking myself, If I don't post a selfie or some type of meme with positive words of wisdom soon, will people forget about me? As if I felt a need to serve my list of nearly 5,000 friends (most of whom I have never even made the acquaintance of) on the daily, it was as though I was letting people down.

Who cares?

Honestly, I had to convince myself those two words: who cares? We've become so accustomed and addicted to likes, comments, and reactions that we fail to realize that they are only short-lived, clicked on quickly only to keep on scrolling.

By Day 3, it was I who didn't care anymore, and it felt good.

I didn't owe anybody a status update nor did anyone else care, which made it even easier to move on with my life, completely free of social media and anything else the internet had to offer.

My mind became a bit less foggy and much clearer. My sleep improved ten-fold and although I would wake up searching for my phone that I swore I left under my pillow, I eventually grew out of that habit.

Now, when I go to bed, even though I've returned to the senseless reality of the world of social media, I leave my phone far away from my reach. This way if I wake up in the middle of the night, I have less of a desire to check my Facebook notifications or recent Twitter interactions.

Your mental health is highly important and you may not even realize how poorly you're abusing it by trapping yourself within a realm of online societal judgment. Trust me, if it wasn't for the type of work that I do, I would make the choice to delete my accounts for good.

Until you are able to unplug yourself from the electronics, free your mind from the internet and break the chains that have bound you to the toxic relationship of social media, you will never be truly happy.

Trust me, I did it, and you can too.

#FreeYourMind