How I Felt After Reducing My Exposure To Social Media

I’ve been trying to live a meaningful life for a while, and after wondering what I should do to reach this goal, I realized that I should avoid distractions. Guess the top 1 of my list? If “Social Media” pops in your mind, yeap, you hit the bull’s eye.

So, today, I’m gonna talk about how I felt after reducing my exposure to social media.

First, I want to be clear that I don’t have the monopoly on truth, either criticize who spent their time on social media. Second, the purpose of this article is to share my feelings about this experience of being away from social media.

That said, let’s get into today’s article.

I’m a meditator, and I’ve been seeking a meaningful life. With the passage of time, I could notice that we’re living in a distracting world. Many things to do, read, achieve, and so on. That’s overwhelming. In my case, it gets worse when, in autopilot mode, I grab my phone and swipe over social media icons without any clear purpose for that.

I gradually reduced my exposure to social media, it doesn’t happen overnight. I used to use more Facebook. I’m not into Instagram even though I have two accounts, one for my travel blog (in Portuguese) and this one you’re reading now.

Last week, I entered my Facebook account to get information about one course that I bought. Then randomly I browsed on my Facebook (getting distracted on the screen), and I ended up on my timeline. To my surprise, my last post was in 2019. Then I realized: “indeed I’m not interested in social media anymore”.

Last weekend, I went to the beach with my husband. I had a plan in my mind: to be disconnected for the weekend. Nevertheless, I didn’t enter my Facebook or Instagram account, frequently, I get to used to WhatsApp, Telegram, and Skype.

So, I was walking at the beach admiring the sea, sounds, wind, sand on my feet. I thought: Oh my goodness, what a great sensation of fullness. I was completely there, feeling the atmosphere, enjoying that unique moment.

I felt relaxed and relieved for having no phone to check, no expectation for likes, comments, and messages.

Here some outcomes of this experience:

1. More present at the moment.
2. Don’t spend time taking umpteen photos looking for the best one (angle, light, focus, and so).
3. Don’t spend time choosing what to post and what to write about it.
4. Don’t spend time checking the comments and replying to it.

I wondered why I liked so much Facebook and some theories showed up:

1. Novelty.
2. To follow the crowd
3. To share my happiness with others
4. To share interesting places and stuff
5. To drop hints (yes, I did it! hahaha)
6. To have a backup of my photos, and memories.

The point is to do what really matters in our lives. To walk our own way. =)

I’d like to hear from you. Have you ever have the experience of turning off your phone or do not look at your social media for a couple of days? How did you feel?

Thank you for reading, and see you next time.