After watching
We Live in Public this week’s class and looking at ways to detach yourself from
social media and your phone, I thought it would be a good idea to look at the
benefits of doing a small social media detox. There are a lot of different
reasons to want to take a break from social media even though it may be hard. A
social media detox can last up to how long you would want to make it. Anything
to disconnect for a little while and live in the now.
While doing
a little bit of research I came across a Life Hack article called 9 PositiveBenefits of a Social Media Detox. I thought that this was interesting and hit a
lot of different reasons as to why we should detox from social media.
Holly Chavez stated:
“In fact, the average person spends at least 1 hour and 40
minutes per day looking at their favorite social media sites and apps. This is
an outstanding amount of time that could be spent in other ways, but it is also
indicative of the current social media and business culture.”
I thought this was fascinating
because the thought of going into a business environment and have to be
on social media can also be negative or draining for someone, even if it is your job. In the article,
it stated that it can protect your privacy. I agree, but there is already so much on our social media that privacy is hard to come by. The reason
the article gave was that you would delete your phone number that is installed
with Facebook or other social media, and that’s what would make you have more
privacy. Even though you probably will go back to the app. This isn’t what I
was necessarily thinking about when it said it would protect your privacy. I
thought it of being more of people wouldn’t know where you are all the time or
what you are doing.
There are a lot of aspects in this article that
resonate with me in. One of them is that your overall mood will
become better. Social media can make you feel bad whether it is about body
image or worrying about who is looking at what on your social media. One of the
biggest points in this article is to live in the moment, which is what I am trying to do. I think that I could potentially live in the moment when I’m not on a
“detox”, but it would be incredibly hard. Living in the moment is so important
because if you are on your phone you are passing up all this time you have to
be with people and explore without worrying about posting all the time.
This article made me think about
seriously having a social media detox, I know I would it would be hard and I
would need to adjust, but I think it would have a positive impact on me.
It's cool that a digital detox can improve your mood. I do feel like checking my phone constantly does more bad for me than good. I don't really want to go out around people and socialize either. Maybe my version of a detox would be a weekend trip alone by myself in a hotel somewhere. I think since social media is full of people interacting, that spending more time with multiple people face to face would be draining as well? A detox to me would be a detox from other people as a whole, not just from the internet and people online. I suppose I should look at hotels around the area, hopefully I'll be able to find one with a pool and a nice view of some mountains or a lake.
ReplyDeleteThis is a great read. I think everyone could benefit from a social media detox. I think even spectacles will probably have a few unexpected benefits. Over the summer I worked as a receptionist and just stared at buzzfeed and BBC all day while waiting for the phones to ring. My other job was as a social media manager for a real estate firm. I found my self sick of staring at screens and itching to get out for a walk to see something that felt a little less numbing. I think it should be a class assignment to go one day completely screen free and maybe write a few pros and cons or stories to share with the class. I do not see my self taking a break from it unless I have a good push to do it, even with all the benefits you listed. I am also interested in Sam's comment about simply completely taking a break from people. Be alone with your thoughts not having to socialize for a day sounds like it would be a really nice break for us. No partying, no texting, no silly reality shows, nothing. Maybe a book, a nice path to stroll and some meditation.
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