During winter break, I reflected on my past decisions based on last semester. I realized that I spent a lot of time on my phone, scrolling through social media. This semester I want to make a change and what better way to do so than to take a break from social media.

My set plan to test this manner was to try a week of no social media. From Tuesday to the  following Tuesday, completely with no social media. As a goal, I was hoping to be more productive in my days. Instead of getting on my phone to scroll through Instagram as soon as I get home, I take that time and do homework. I thought the best outcome would be that I did not feel the need to constantly be on social media. 

The first day of social media was pretty easy. I kept myself busy by doing homework as soon as I got home, keeping myself accountable for my work. I started to find more time to work on other things around the house like organizing my room, cleaning my car and then going to work. 

Although this continued for the next few days,I noticed that I had the habit of always checking for notifications or to go on social media because of boredom. I would get to a place where I had time to do nothing at all and I wouldn’t know what to do. 

In all trials comes errors, including the fact I did not make the full week. I gave into social media on Saturday because I had no homework and I wanted to post my boyfriend. I do believe that social media is distracting because I increased productivity during the few days of no social media. Currently I have straight A’s because I have more time to do the work, and I was able to keep track of the work that needs to be done.

I feel I could go a lot longer than the last few days. During the break from Instagram and Tiktok, I had boosted my confidence. I wasn’t comparing myself to others as much as I usually do. Tiktok was a habit for me, I would scroll through it for hours and not get anything done. I would find my mental state to be more depressed because of the feed I received. 

I love using social media as an outlet to express news in my life, but taking that break, I realized I truly don’t care who sees my posts, who reacts to it, and the validation that I thought I would receive. I know the break was only three days, but I was able to validate who cares and who doesn’t. 

Overall, I recommend taking a short or long period of time off of social media. It can help calm the mind and stay more productive. I’m choosing to delete social media every weekday or the  weekends that I have so much to do. I know I need to focus. Personally, I am still considering the possibility of completely deleting social media for good.