My One-Month Challenge Off Social Media

Yes, yes, yes…. I know social media is essential to life. It’s a great source to staying in contact with family and friends while you are away at college. But what is it that makes this technological world of communication so addictive?  Is it that it gives individuals a chance to advertise and express themselves to the general public?

There have been a countless number of times when I have been with people at an event or even in the classroom and all they are doing is checking their social media apps for any updates, I have been guilty of this as well. It’s not to say that social media is bad for you, it’s just the question as to what else can you be using that time for?

I decided to give myself a one-month challenge to stay off all social media platforms from Dec 10, 2014 – Jan 10, 2015.  By the way it might have been one of the best decisions of my life.

The first week of my challenge was during finals week. I truly felt more efficient in my studying habits as I no longer was summoned by my phone to check my social media. Facebook was deactivated, Instagram was logged out of, and I deleted Snapchat, and Twitter. Believe it or not I actually did experience some withdrawal from not knowing what was going on in the social world. Even my friends weren’t able to contact me regarding events and updates. This was really a time to capitalize and study effectively in order to do well on my finals as I seized the moment!

Once winter break started I kept the challenge going, Even though I didn’t have schoolwork, I kind of liked the idea of being independent and not relying on other people’s lives to entertain me on my electronics. After all, why should we constantly track what other people are up to? If you are genuinely interested in someone’s well being, give them a call, take them out for coffee; be actively social instead of technologically social.

Through my toxic cleansing of social media, I went to alternative forms of entertainment. I read three incredible novels, worked on summer internship opportunities, and felt more conversational with family and friends since I wasn’t on my phone too much. Since their wasn't to many reasons to check my phone, at one point I went four days without charging it, which is a personal record.

I would like to challenge everyone to take some time off social media, especially college students, as you will definitely begin to appreciate other things besides your tablet/iPhone. Once you are finished with your one-month challenge you will learn to only use social media in moderation and not let it distract you from life. Below is an interesting blog post written by Neil Patel that can be useful to undergrads on how to save time on social media.

http://themetapicture.com/if-this-video-doesnt-convince-you/

https://blog.bufferapp.com/how-to-save-time-on-social-media