No-cial Media

So during the revision period, I took the decision to deactivate my Facebook and Instagram, whilst also logging out of my snapchat and deleting all these apps from my phone. Honestly, I never really used the apps too much, but I just wanted to eliminate all distractions from my life, so I could fully focus on my exams.

Now exams are over – and have been for a while – and I don’t think I’m going to be reactivating them. Why? I’ve realised just how little I care for them. Just how boring they are – how little they contribute anything to my life. How much more productivity and enjoyment I get from my day without them.

I think what really struck me was that I realised why I had found social media so boring – that, frankly, I really don’t care about what all these people are doing in their lives – especially when half of it isn’t real, instead curated to humble-brag. I found I was much more content living in the real world – and as for the people who I did care to know about what they were doing, or what was happening in their lives – well I saw them most days. I was and still am a part of their lives, and for those with a little physical distance, I just text.

And that’s why I’m suggesting you all do this too. Try it. Delete your social media, and I can almost guarantee your life will change – and for the better. There really is no downside to removing social media. If anything, I’ve found in recent years it actually causes problems – people use it to track where you are when you’ve been online, when you’re active. It’s the sort of stuff that people couldn’t do in reality, and for me, it’s a step too far in breaching my privacy; People thinking I’m ignoring them, or thinking I’m free and owe it to them to reply/do something just because I was online for a few minutes.

And since removing my social media, all these issues disappear overnight. Back to the ‘old time’ when people texted you, and if you didn’t reply, they come to the more obvious and logical confusing that I’m simply busy. Or when they emailed you and had to wait till you logged on via desktop to respond.

Furthermore, removing it skyrockets your personal development. Gone is the ability to focus on others and instead you focus on yourself. Your development, your goals, your friends (the people around you). In the most clichéd sense, you start living in real life. Your online life is gone, and it’s all about enjoying and making the most of real life – creating, being in and savouring every single memory.

So I recommend you all try this. Your life will improve overnight.