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I'll tell you what I think...
What inspired me to write about social media was a post by business coach Jason Zook. He realized that, even though he needed to be on Facebook to run his business, it was having a negative effect on him.
Jason was looking at all these images of other people's success, vacations, material wealth...and he was feeling jealous. He realized that what he really needed to do was a social media "DETOX," to get away from seeing these idealized pictures of other people's lives all the time. He needed to take a break, to put things in perspective, and be grateful for what he had.
But, this was the first article I'd ever read where a person made a diary of EVERY single day of what 30 days without social media is like.
So I'm going to walk you through Jason's "30 days without social media" experience, and then tell you what I think!
Jason described just feeling free. Normally going on social media was part of his morning ritual...like, right when he hopped out of bed! But today he read a book instead, and then later in the day when it was time for him to actually delete the social media icons off his phone, he felt nothing but FREE.
He said that over the course of the next couple of days, he realized just how much time he had wasted on social media every day, and how much more free time it felt like he had now. He even said that when he went to the Starbucks drive-thru, he was suddenly struck with the urge to pay for the drink of the person behind him.
It was a "feeling of relief and freedom," and he wanted to spread that feeling to the whole world!
However, as he got to the end of the first week, he felt like his mind was kind of...blank. He said his iPhone felt like a heavy brick in his pocket, beckoning him to use it and go on Facebook!
He felt like he couldn't even think about anything else, and couldn't concentrate on what he was supposed to be doing, because he kept thinking about Facebook.
But then as he got closer to the end of the experiment, this feeling started to subside. He calls this "a huge increase in productivity," and he made this giant list of things he was able to do that he believes he would not have been able to do otherwise, like finishing writing an e-book and spending more quality time with his wife than usual.
So, what can we learn from an experience like Jason's? Well, first of all, here are his thoughts about it: he doesn't think it's realistic to completely quit Facebook and other social media for the rest of his life, but he wants to control and limit his use a lot more.
He says that spending a month away from them "literally felt like ripping shackles off my mind and body."
Wow!
Before I read about Jason's experience, I already knew that social media sometimes takes over our lives. I think we can all agree with that!!
And I knew that one of the most obvious negative things about it is that it can cause some major discontentment. Most people are only sharing the absolute BEST part of their lives, which sets us up for comparison, which leads to ingratitude for our life.
BUT, after reading this story, I realized that the WORST part about social media is just plain how addictive it is.It's sad that people think they can't go a day without it, let alone a month. So even though social media is a great and powerful tool, and it can connect you with people all over the world; help you network; and have fun in ways you couldn't without it...I would also encourage all of my followers to take ONE DAY completely off social media.
Just one day. Try it. See how it feels. Are you more addicted than you realize? Or was it easier than you thought?
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