My 30 days off of Social Media and What I learned

Let's start with the question I received most during the last 30 days, "Why are you taking 30 days off of social media?"  The honest answer?  It was an experiment.  I know that I am addicted to social media and I spend quite a bit of time on it, and I just wanted to see what life was like without it.  I have to give credit to this blogpost from inspiring the idea.  I had the thought to also do a daily blog, but with a pretty busy work schedule, that never came to fruition.
 

Lets begin with my definition of what a social media fast was.  I would not open Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, Pinterest, Swarm/Foursquare, or LinkedIn for any reason.  Of those channels, Facebook is my clear favorite, but I didn't want to replace one addiction with another.  I did allow myself the following: Yelp!, youTube, and Facebook Messenger (on my phone only.)  I don't follow anybody on these networks.  I use Yelp for restaurant reviews, youTube to watch occasional videos, and Facebook Messenger I use in the same way I use texting.  I got some flack from some purists on not taking a complete break, but I would suffice to say, if you do a social media fast do it your way. Those networks were not a distraction for me, I didn't use them much, and my usage did not increase during the 30 day window.

I will list some pros and cons, and I'll tell you the conclusion I came to, which actually surprised me.

Pros

1. Cell phone battery life increased significantly.  My phone would routinely go down to 20% around 3:00 pm each day.  While on my social media fast it would often last until 7:00 pm.
2.  I spent much less time on my computer.  It was amazing to me how difficult it was to open a browser and not go to Facebook in one tab, and open another tab to search Twitter.  Though I don't post to Twitter much, I became aware of how much I rely on it for searching news and information.
3. I was on my phone less.  I can't say I eliminated it completely, because I still had a smart phone with me.  I still would check email or play the occasional Words With Friends (the only game on my phone) game, but I would estimate my phone usage went down 50%.
4. I didn't have to read as much negative news. People are particularly likely to share polarizing political views on Facebook.
5. I got some special phone calls.  A good friend of mine, who was announcing that he was going to be a first time father, called me to tell me the news on the phone.  He knew I was taking a social media break, and it is a little more special when someone picks up the phone to give you a call.
6. I think to summarize, I was less programmed and more present.  Do you know what my number one daily thought was, during the beginning of this experiment?  I was dying to make a post and update all the people in my network, with how I was doing with my social media fast.  Pretty ironic eh?  

Cons

1. I felt isolated from news about friends.  In the 30 days I was gone from social, a high school football coach died, a colleague announced his retirement, and the father of a friend I have known since grade school had heart surgery.  I found out all of this information from others who saw it on social media.  Most of it I learned much later than others, and I also missed out on the group conversations.  There is certain news, shared by the many key networks I have shared throughout my life, that only happens on Facebook.
2. I missed sharing my travels!  It is funny, when I told a friend that I had just been in Chicago and San Francisco, she said that she loved my travel posts.  And without the pending post to update folks on a visit, I also don't think I captured as much in pictures as I normally would.  Those pictures are a great way of capturing history, and they show up in memories each day.
3. I missed a lot of birthdays.  I'm not sure how many birthdays I missed in the month of June, but I would guess that it was at least 30!  Sorry to all and I will try to make up for it with a ridiculous meme next year!
4. I was not plugged in to various events.  National Donut Day happened in June, and I had no idea until I heard a conversation.  Events like this, and who is participating, are often spearheaded via social media.
5. I missed the posts!  I have some friends who are quite witty, and there musings add a great bit of humor and insight into my day.
6. The aggregate of these points comes down to communication.  I lost a huge amount of input from going off the grid, and I also lost a great platform to share.  Phone calls can replace some of what social media provides, but it isn't practical to think it would replace all.  The group messaging dynamic of social media makes it a very efficient way to communicate to large and disparate groups of people.

Conclusion

Here is my surprise conclusion.  I'm not surprised how much I missed social media, because as I have stated from the beginning, I already knew I was addicted to it.  But I am surprised how important I have found social media to be.  By not being on social media at all, it effectively means cutting off a huge part of relationships.  Sure, you could call people instead of posting, but how many phone numbers and conversations can one genuinely have?  I do know some folks who prefer to have a very narrow circle of friends, and being off social media or limiting your network makes a lot of sense.

I also think I approach social media in "the right way."  My primary purpose on social media is to make people laugh, to wonder, and to give others my unique perspective on the world.  I have a good friend who recently said that he approached life "with a childlike exuberance."  I think I do the same thing.  Jimmy Buffet once described his role in life as that of a jester.  I feel the same way.

Now, I also believe that there is a balance to strike.  So many of us are walking around like nervous raccoons with our heads buried in our devices all the time.  This isn't healthy.  Social media fills up so many of the gaps in life, and sometimes that can be good, but it is bad if you are missing out on the things around you.  I often laugh when people say "I don't have time to be on social media."  Of course you have time, you just choose to spend it differently.  You are watching television, reading a book or magazine, or perhaps you kick back and listen to music.  None of us are nailed up in productivity all waking hours of the day, as much as we may choose to pose as the contrary.

The next 30 days should be interesting, but in that time, I do wish to find a healthy balance.  I want to stay plugged into my family and friends, but I don't want to be distracted from my present surroundings because of a constant need to check my notifications.  Perhaps I'll simply keep social media apps off of my phone, turn off notifications, or have some other rule I follow to minimize my dependence on it.  A colleague of mine told me that he tells his children, that they need to be bored.  Some of our greatest thinking occurs when we simply pause and let time stop for a bit, with no information exchange whatsoever.  I also plan to keep my newly rekindled interest in reading going strong.

If you choose to run a similar experiment, I'd love to hear the results of your 30 day social media detox!