What Happened when I Deleted Social Media for a Month.

Earlier this year, if you would have asked me to delete social media for a full month, I would have laughed out loud.

Are you kidding? I would have thought. Without social media, how would I stay connected? How would I share my blog posts? Would I be left out and forgotten? It seemed WAY too risky.

Eventually, my schedule filled up, my peace felt off, and I knew it was time to step away and take a break. So I tried it. A full 30 days without checking a single Facebook or Instagram update.  An entire month without liking, commenting, story-watching, or scrolling.

As I’m writing this, I’m about 3 days away from logging back in and to be honest, I’m pretty anxious about it. While it was an adjustment at the beginning for sure, I’m realizing now that I don’t really miss it. If I log in, will I go back to my old ways of scrolling and getting sucked into the time warp of constant consumption?

Interestingly, the more I talk to fellow mamas and the more I read articles from some of my favorite authors, the more I’m getting the vibe that maybe we’re ALL a little disenchanted with social media right now.

I keep hearing stories of exhaustion, boredom, mindless scrolling. Evidence has been pulling me back to the same question: Is it possible that I’m not the only one who has wanted to step away?

Is it possible that we’re all just a little tired from the constant noise social media makes? That we’re feeling the heaviness of comparison and lacking peace? That we ache for true connection and we’re discovering it can’t be found through likes and hearts and DM’s?

If you’ve ever wondered what it would be like to quiet the noise for a while – If you’ve ever been curious if deleting the Gram was actually possible – I’m sharing my experience so you can decide for yourself.

The first few days sans social.

The first few days sucked, to put it bluntly. 

I’d like to tell you that I deleted the apps and it was a total breeze and I didn’t miss them at all! I’d like to tell you that, but I can’t. First of all, I had no idea how often I opened social media apps out of pure boredom. Until I got bored, and didn’t have the option.

Now what?

Additionally, social had become my search engine for celebrity gossip. And, my friends know me for my Facebook stalking abilities. 👀 Yes, you read that right, and yes, I’m aware of how flakey this makes me sound. I’m just over here winning gossip and celebrity trivia awards because clearly I have nothing better to do with my time. 🤷‍♀️

Basically, the first few days I picked up my phone A LOT, and then thought, oh yeah… and put it back down. That’s how the experiment to delete social media started.

Filling the void.

After a few days of the “picking up/putting down” game, I decided I had better figure out exactly what it was I was going to do with my time if social media wasn’t going to be a part of it anymore.

(In hindsight, I recommend figuring this out before you delete the apps. I think it would make the process a whole lot easier if you had something fun to look forward to or a goal to hone in on in the absence of the social media time warp!)

I chose to dig into some of the stuff I always wanted to do, but always said I didn’t have time to do. (Guilty!) So for the past 30 days, I’ve written WAY more. A lot of it probably won’t ever see the light of day, but I’m ok with that. Practicing the skill has still been fun!

Additionally, I’ve been reading more, too. I’ve found other blogs that I’ve fallen in love with like Ashlee Gadd’s, Hannah Brencher’s, and Coffee + Crumbs. And, I’m making my way through Digital Minimalism by Cal Newport (which was ironically great timing with this experiment).

I also soaked in as much knowledge as I could about freelancing. I guess you could say reading and writing is what I’ve been up the past 30 days.🤓

New boundaries going forward:

As I mentioned earlier, I’m pretty nervous about logging back in to the apps now that I’ve been gone for a while. So, I figured the best way to get back into it was to set some pretty strict boundaries for myself going forward. Here’s what I’m planning:

• No more Facebook. I’m not deleting my Facebook profile, but I’m not going to check it either. I’m stepping away from The Book of Face, except to check my blogging page once a week from my laptop. I’m not even putting the app back on my phone. I haven’t missed it at all while I’ve been gone, and that tells me something. This is nothing personal! I’ve just found I’m happier without it.
• Unfollow accounts on the Gram. I will go back to Instagram, but I plan to unfollow/declutter who I follow so I can clean up my feed. Is it fun to follow Ryan Reynolds and see what he’s up to? Yes. Can it also cause me to waste my time on the app? Yep. (Sadly.) Truth be told, I’ve followed so many random accounts over the years. If I’m coming back to Instagram, then I want it to be a place of true inspiration. Not a place where I can get sucked into the rabbit hole of scrolling.
• New social hours. I’ve decided I will not be on social over the weekends, or past 5 PM. I want to be where my feet are. I want to embrace where I’m at. On that note, I’m not going to check any emails past 5 PM either. All I’m probably receiving in my inbox are deals from boutiques anyway and Lord knows that can wait till morning. Ha!
• I will only login to the Gram once a day, if even that often. If I’m only following a handful of accounts on just one social media app, this shouldn’t be a problem.
• More scheduled, longer breaks away. This past month was such a nice reset, I think I need to do it more often! I don’t know yet how this will look or what months I’ll take off, but I do know that this break has been monumental in how I view social. I think a reset more often is necessary.

A final note on creativity and what you’ll find from me moving forward:

One huge realization I had from my experiment to delete social media for a month was the absolutely absurd amount of time I had previously spent thinking about what to post and how I would be perceived.

It was so small and quiet and hidden, that I couldn’t see it while I was in it. The time I spent finding the “perfect” photo. The right filter. The best emojis. I honestly didn’t think I was that girl, but I was. (It also hasn’t been fun discovering this about myself, let me just say that.)

Between the curated content and the constant scrolling, had I forgotten how to be myself? Had I spent so much time wondering if I’m doing it “right” that I forgot how to simply show up as me?

As a writer, I find incredible amounts of information telling me I should be “building a platform.” But let me tell you, the more I hear this phrase, the more it makes my skin itch. What if I don’t want to build a platform? Is there room to just share the everyday stories of life? No special hashtags. No “building.” Just showing up as me. Open-hearted and honest.

And if I do that, what would it look like? What would it look like to focus on the quiet, but important things?

Right now, it feels like:

• More concentrating on my roles as mama + wife. Less worrying about how I’m being perceived.
• More writing each day. Less editing each little thing that comes off the keyboard.
• More wild and beautiful creativity. Less structure and checklists.
• More storytelling. Less bullet points. (She said IN A BULLET POINT.😆)

So that’s more of what you’ll find from me going forward. More storytelling and more showing up fully as ME so other women have the courage to show up as THEM, too. Going forward, I will definitely be posting less. If I post, I don’t want it to be because I feel like I “have” to. I want it to come from a place of overflow with words I really felt led to share. That’s it.

Wrapping Up.

The biggest thing I learned from my experiment to delete social media is that removing distractions can bring a new level of peace. It’s not a weakness to slow down, get quiet, sort out our priorities, and figure out what makes us tick + brings us joy. The longer I’m alive the more cognizant I am of the overwhelming amount of distractions available to us. So it’s up to US to cut down on the noise.

I didn’t think I could do a whole month without DM’s and reels, but I did it, and not only did I NOT DIE, I actually really enjoyed it. It truly is possible to delete social media (at least for a little while.😉)

**OVER TO YOU: Have any questions about cutting back on social media? Have you ever tried taking a long break away? I’d love to hear from you in the comments below!