Seven Day Social Media Detox

Day One.

Last night I deleted Facebook and Instagram apps from my phone.

I have been slowly spiralling toward this idea for months - feeling overwhelmed by the barrage of information and images demanding my attention at any given moment - a suffocatingly out of control feeling given all the variables I have little to no control over.

My life hardly lends itself to a whole lot of freedom… and I cherish what little I get, so really despise the idea that maybe I’m throwing it away for nothing.

The online world is a constant flood of news about others - things to like and love and congratulate and encourage and support. And all those things are good things, but they take up so much time, and what do I have to show for my time? Feels like nothing. Nothing that I want to be creating myself anyway.

All these things I’m encouraging in others, I need to focus on myself.

I’m just not sure I know how to do that without killing off social media.

Online life is a world of memes and sees me falling into a rabbit hole of comments which are arguably the best content there is…. sure - that’s where the trolls live, but also what feels like the zeitgeist of human nature and social change.

So fascinating! I really feel like I’m studying humanity, and yet actually in reality, I’m doing nothing.

Balance... If only I had a little more balance!

Recently I spent over an hour unfollowing everyone and everything I could - just to create a little negative space for my own head. Nothing personal… just too much, too often, and too little time for me to focus.

It eased the flow I guess...but truthfully wasn’t the answer at all.

I am friends with people I like, in groups with folk like me, and I follow pages of artists I love - why don’t I want to see them every day, and what did I even want to achieve by trying to create a dam?

Breathing space.

And because I’m an introvert - and don’t need to see or hear from anyone for days! Weeks even.

As a solo mother of 5, I don’t have a lot of spare energy to play with… so I figure I need to kill some of the things that already steal my time.

Social Media is the most obvious of choices...given its dubious value.

It happens to be school holidays here, so just me and the kids day in day out for two weeks.

Not sure if that will make it harder or easier, just noting that it is :)

As an ideal outcome from this little detox - I would have a weekly ritual that only triggered my need to check in with the outside world once or twice a week. I would be ok with that kind of system… but endless scrolling won’t design that for me!)

Deciding to pull the plug on all of the apps is a necessary reset.

I want space for my own mind to get clarity on what it is I really want to do, and I want to create more time to get going on doing it.

So, apps deleted from phone and laptop and into hibernation I go….

(with my favourite human who is detoxing with me, so I am not alone :))

Day Two.

The moment I woke up and turned off my alarm, I checked my messages and went to click onto Facebook, without thinking.

Somewhat hilariously, deleting the Facebook app meant the space it used to occupy has now been replaced by the phone icon, so every time I mindlessly flick from Messenger to that space, I am alarmed to see I’ve unwittingly opened my phone book with it’s bright green button jumping out at me, suggesting I call someone!

Brilliant way to shock me out of that careless habit if ever there was one…

I’m feeling happy today imagining what kind of space I might be creating for my own mind here. Endless possibilities… who knows :) I found time to message friends, paint a lot of my very tired fence, and write a song.

Day Three.

Today I did so much that I don’t ordinarily do!

Like getting around to my ‘to do list’, and actually chip away at it… and played my guitar for what felt like hours, and started organising my song book which has been on my dream list forever! And baked cookies for afternoon tea with Miss 11, and generally felt a whole lot more present and less attached to my phone.

Made doughnuts for dinner... painted the white enamel in the bathroom that was looking sad and tired from too many candlelit baths; painted the skirting boards that had taken a beating from our time with a friend’s Segway… so much joy - so many black marks :)

Just a few little jobs from my never-ending list - tick!

I am feeling lighter without the constant noise of others in my world... not sure why I let it all drown out what matters to me so often, but there we go. I don’t feel guilty about it, just interested really. I don’t miss Facebook at all, and I’m almost never on Instagram anyway… but somehow I have allowed social media to drain almost all of my spare time and perhaps much of my productive time too.

Interesting.

Ended the day overseeing a chess tournament between Master 6 and his big sisters, which naturally ended in tears and resistance to the idea that one shakes hands and says ‘good game’ no matter what the outcome. I insisted, telling them all I made their older brothers do just the same when they were younger too.

Day Four.

This morning I woke up to the fire going before 10am thanks to Miss 8, and decided to channel our inner cafe so Miss 11 took various orders for brunch - porridge/fried eggs and bacon/french toast... was really nice 🙂

Then spent the majority of the day saving a library of songs into printable pdfs for my much needed songbook - because for some reason I blank out when I think of singing in front of others, and having words and chords in front of me help. I did some work on a business awards entry for a friend, and plenty of time cleaning up after our cafe.

My girls’ favourite part of today was me pretending to be a judge for their talent show, and my favourite part was giving them writing tips - which they had to take on board and work with, because - it was part of the play ;)

Master 14 destroyed last night’s chess champion.

He laughed when I made the loser shake his hand and say good game - said he remembers me making him doing the same and telling his six year old self that nobody will want to play games with him if he’s a bad sport. Yay… so glad I’m so wise and consistent ;P

I am more present. With myself, and with my children.

I feel less attached to my phone. I care less if it’s not in the same room as me; if it’s being used by someone else to make a video or whatever; if it’s on charge. I have disconnected enough to realise how much I am used to being on it or with it.

I would say that’s a worry - but I avoid that particular saying ;)

It’s interesting how free I am feeling with the change… that’s a nice way of looking at it :)

I’m thinking of adding the 10, 3, 2, 1, 0 system into the mix too -

10 hours before bed, no caffeine, 3 hours before no food or alcohol, 2 hours before no work, 1 hour before sleep, no screens, and zero snoozes on the alarm.

It’s the 1 hour before that I know will be hardest to break for me.

But in an effort to break free from habit, I am making myself wake and not touch my phone until I have read a real book in bed… like I used to. Wake up, have a drink of water, read a few pages. Too easy.