Detoxing from Social Media

Hello and welcome!

This week's post is going to be a little different than what I normally write about. This week, I'm logging a work week of no social media. I'll be blogging about Monday to Thursday since I've decided Friday night after my kids go to bed I'll be allowed back on. Specifically no YouTube and no Pinterest. The only other social media I use are Snapchat and Marco Polo, which are literally just to talk to 2 or 3 people. Snapchat I will get caught up watching the short video compilations they have but I have also banned myself from watching those.

The reason for this is because, in short, I have a problem. I am addicted to YouTube and especially the little 1 minute shorts. Honestly, I think most of us our addicted to those. There is a reason after TikTok videos blew up that all these other platforms made their own form of short videos (YouTube Shorts, Instagram Reels, etc.). I want to preference as well that I have not used Facebook for about 3.5 years. I've also not used Instagram, Twitter, or, TikTok for probably around 2 years. So I've slowly been making this plunge into social media-free life.

I felt the call from God that I needed to stop this addiction now. It was draining my joy and my motivation. It was causing this awful comparison even when I would just try to watch more wholesome content. So I prayed about it, and this is what God and I decided. I am going to make it a habit now to not use any social media throughout the work week (aside from Snapchat and Marco Polo because those are only used to talk to people, not look at videos or anything like that). I think that it is essential for my mental health and for how I treat my family and those around me.

So here are some of my thoughts Monday through Thursday on no social media.

Day 1: Monday

This was the very first day of my detox. I felt really motivated and encouraged to start this day. I will say as the day went on, it honestly wasn't too bad. I did find myself picking up my phone but not necessarily wanting to check YouTube or Snapchat at this point. When I did, in fact, feel this way though, was at night after I put my son to bed. I actually felt pretty anxious. I just had this overwhelming feeling of unease and my "what-if" thoughts were beginning to run rampant. I would say that's one thing I actually noticed an increase in all day long was more "what-if" thoughts than usual. I also found my thoughts swirling around thinking about videos I had watched and viral trends going around, almost as if my brain was trying to give itself that little rush I would get from actually watching the videos. Overall, Monday was a pretty good day. I feel like I got so much more accomplished and felt pretty good at the end of the day after some prayer. I felt it was easier for me to focus while I was praying which was a big plus.

Day 2: Tuesday

Tuesday I really was starting to feel the need to scroll. It was certainly hitting me hard but I found that on this day I wasn't feeling as anxious as I was Monday. I wasn't craving that distraction as much as I was just craving scrolling on my phone. I find myself specifically wanting to scroll mindlessly after a tiring or sort of stressful situation. I had to take my toddler for a haircut this particular morning and it's about a 40-minute drive there and why it wasn't necessarily that stressful within itself, I am just a little more nervous being so far along in my pregnancy and doing things alone with my son. When we got home, I was tired and hungry and wanted to be entertained without having to put in any effort at all and I desperately wanted to scroll. So I did look at my Google app and read some articles, which are certainly different and I have to say I'm thankful to God that I didn't give in and get on YouTube. Something I also noticed today is that I was very hyper-aware, in both a positive and negative capacity. Negative in the way that my anxiety was a little wild. Like Monday, I found my "what-if" thoughts really going crazy. It's like I could see so much danger in every situation. But it was also positive too because I found myself going to God and asking for help with many different situations throughout the day. I crave talking more with God and leaning on Him so I definitely felt like that was a positive. Overall, I feel as though Tuesday went really well. I was productive and happier and even somehow felt even a little less tired. Could energy levels be affected by social media addiction?

Day 3: Wednesday

Wednesday I felt to be an easier day, for most of the day at least. I did actually watch a couple of YouTube videos, but it was just to skip through them to help me in putting together our baby's new pack-and-play. Not for entertainment purposes. This day, overall, went very well. I found myself again with viral songs and video trends stuck in my head even though I haven't watched any videos since Sunday which I still find to be a strange thing. At lunch, I was watching a Marco Polo from one of my friends that I had already seen but did want to rewatch it so I could respond fully. I'm not sure if that was filling some sort of void in my brain for wanting to watch a video. The evening was a bit harder. I was particularly anxious this evening. It didn't have anything to do with not having social media, I was just feeling a bit panicky over a situation, that is not abnormal to me. Because of that feeling of overwhelm though, I found myself struggling to get my nighttime cleaning done. The only motivation I had was to scroll on my phone. I did random things on my phone to try to fill the void. But I'm thankful God gave me the strength not to give into social media. I just wanted something so badly to distract me from the situation but God gave me the strength to set a plan of action for the situation and keep pushing and doing what needed to be done. I also found myself more tired yesterday evening than I had been and I think that also played a role in my strong craving to scroll on social media.

Day 4: Thursday

Thursday was a day I was hitting probably the peak of detoxing. I had a stressful day between getting some tasks done I really didn't want to do on top of overdoing it and having some new pregnancy pain. That lead to some massive anxiety in me and I found myself wanting to scroll so badly. I wanted to just get on and watch a video. I will say on this day I did Google some Youtube videos (not use the YouTube app, mind you) so that I could practice tying my baby wrap carrier. But again that was it. I found myself scrolling through news articles on the Google app as well as just doing other random things on my phone. It was a difficult day but again, God gave me the strength to move forward and make different choices. I was still present and doing things with my son and not wasting my entire day watching videos while everything else around me begged for my attention. At the end of these four days, I feel proud of myself for staying strong even in the wake of these great cravings. God is good and gives me strength. I'm so thankful for that.

Overall Reflections

I wanted to share too some overall reflections I had after going through these past four days without social media. Here's what I noticed:

• I am hyperaware and in touch with God more.

• I am more present and patient with my family.

• I am more productive.

• I respond more quickly to messages and phone calls.

• I am more likely to do things that need to be done at the time rather than putting them off.

• I find it easier to think.

I'm really happy with how the week went. I feel like every day I was typing up that I had a moment by the end of the day where I just wanted to scroll. I noticed the intensity of this was directly related to my stress and energy levels. Right now, I'm living with a pretty high stress level most of the time preparing for the birth of my youngest son. So why detox now? Doesn't that make everything harder? Maybe it does. But the time spent off of social media is very beneficial to my mental health. I wanted to make sure I was spending the rest of the one-on-one time I had left with my oldest son fully present. Because of this detox, I am able to do that. I know I'm getting ready to have a big life change and I will give myself grace with everything during that time once the baby comes. But for now, I knew I needed a change. I was wasting so much of my day watching videos and reading blogs that were interesting, no doubt, but also not beneficial to my mental health.

I hope that you enjoyed this very different post on my blog. I think it's important to take a step back and analyze what's going on in our lives and talk with God about what we need to be changing in order to serve Him better. For me, I know that I'm called to be a mom, a wife, and a homemaker. This addiction in my life was prohibiting me from serving God to my full capacity. Not saying I'm perfect now, I'm certainly not after just a week of this and I'll never be perfect. And even though I struggled, I'm better than I was last week and for that, I'm so grateful to God.

Until next time.