I am a millennial, and like most millennials you would expect me to have a Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, Google+ and who knows what other social media account on whatever platform. And you would be right about three months ago, but now you would be completely wrong. Currently I have abandoned nearly all social media platforms. I only have a LinkedIn account for professional purposes, Google Hangouts (no Google+ account anymore) and Facebook Messenger (do not have an active Facebook account).
Since closing and abandoning the majority of the social media platforms I have never felt better. I have been sleeping better, staying focused more, getting distracted less, and have overall felt less overwhelmed. Plus I reckon if I didn’t abandon all those social media platforms I probably wouldn’t have started this blog, played around with a number of different programming languages and technologies, and even start a number of small side projects (finishing them though is another story unfortunately).
What led me to close my social media accounts? One of the most annoying things I have found with social media is the lack of face to face social skills among people my age. I would go out to dinner or events with family, friends, etc. and some people would just be on their phones; now I don’t go out with those people anymore. I’d try and start a conversation but they would just not be interested. I’d ask what they are doing and they would respond with comments like “Scrolling through Facebook”, “Checking out what people are tweeting”, or “Fixing myself up for a new selfie I’m going to post online”. This type of behaviour made me decide to close my account, but it was not the only reason. I wanted to get away from all the annoying, in your face, and know-it-all posts, messages, and pictures. I could have blocked, unfollowed, unfriended, etc. the individuals who post the content but why bother when I would nearly have to do it to half my “friends” lists. Another reason why I chose to close my accounts is because I would constantly be replying to peoples messages, posts and pictures. I felt like I had an obligation to reply back, and now I don’t need to worry about it 🙂 Do I miss the hilarious Facebook posts from comedic pages? Absolutely. Is it sometimes difficult to co-ordinate events when you cannot reply to a Facebook Event or Group? Yep. But I have learnt how to manage all of that now.
At first I found it hard and had withdrawal like symptoms. I would constantly be checking my phone for no reason for example. Habits I had formed over time based on social media I never knew I had or were doing was obvious now to me. After about two weeks that all died down and I no longer had the social media monkey on my back. So I think going forward, I will most likely not be going back to those platforms, as I see no real reason to. Nothing that they offered I realised I needed. I still find ways to communicate with my friends, I don’t miss out on any social events, and best of all my health and the amount of time I have now allows me to try and do new things.
So if you really are hooked on social media platforms, maybe you need to have a think about why you use those services and if you really need them. Maybe even consider what you are doing when using the services and when you are using them? Are you browsing Facebook/Twitter/Instagram when you are going out to eat with friends instead of conversing with the people you are out with? If so, maybe you need to dial back your social media usage a little. Try going a week or two without social media, maybe your life will change for the better. I know mine has.
Christopher Tom Kochovski 