I decided to take a break from social media. For the months of June and July, I refrained from posting anything to the social networks I have belonged to for over a decade. This was my first time taking time off for a digital detox from Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn.

The purpose of my break was partly to unplug from the noise. Please note that our exchanges are never considered noise if you are connected with me on a social network. The other part was to clear my head of my dread and anxiety.

The noise is from the strangers in my feeds pontificating about politics and arguing over whether masks are useful during a pandemic (stop being stupid), the bots configured to create rage, the media companies seeking clicks and views, the stalker-like advertisements that follow me from retargeting even after I’ve made the purchases. You can stop wasting your money Rayban and Rugstudio, I already bought from you.

Let’s not forget how social networks use algorithms to decide who and what we should see in our feeds. I preferred social media when it was social, and we didn’t need this.

What I Did on My Summer Digital Detox

The following are things I noticed being off social media.

More Thinking. In the past, I haven’t paused long enough to consider why I wanted to share something. I’ve thought much more about this since taking a break. I share on social because I like to entertain, inform, and promote my content and content from people I admire.

Saved Time. When I snap a photo, I usually do so with the intention of sharing it on Instagram. Instead of posting it right away, I take the time to use filters and photo editing apps to improve the quality of the shots. I then consider the caption and corresponding hashtags. I would guess it takes me about 15 minutes to post one photo to Instagram. I’ve posted 3,642 images to Instagram since I created my account in 2010. That works out to 37 days, 22 hours 30 minutes.

More Reading. I ended up recouping the time I would have spent on social media. This left me with more free time to read books again. When taking Peggy for a walk, I often flip endlessly through Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter. I replaced this urge by returning to my books within the Kindle app.

No News is Good News. When I wasn’t reading my Kindle app, I (too) often switched to Google News or Apple News and would fall down the rabbit hole. Obviously, staying informed is important. However, too much news is never a good idea. I found the experience better by pondering why I clicked each headline.

Reach Out and Touch Someone. Like the old Bell telephone ads of yesteryear, I realized there was much more value in emailing, texting, video conferencing, or phoning a friend than tagging them in a social media post. One friend released his new book, so I called him to tell him how much I enjoyed it. Another friend exchanged a series of text messages with me about his divorce. One friend and I had so much fun chatting over Zoom for the first time in many years that we scheduled a second call and continued the conversation.

Shutting Down the Phone. The damned phone is a big part of the problem. I appreciate a smartphone for the glorious piece of technology that it is. However, I’m not naive enough to ignore the addictive features built within. I realized I needed to power my phone off to keep from picking it up. I deleted the social apps, switched it to grayscale, and turned off the dopamine-releasing notifications.

Positives of Social Media

I would be remiss not to talk a little about the positives of using social media. While I did delete the social media apps from my phone, I still logged in once a day to check my private messages. My break was not a break from being social; it was a break from social media.

I made the Twitter exception of checking my Nashville Weather list from time to time as dark clouds loomed, especially when I was on the lake.

I received a warm welcome back when I announced that I had returned from my break on August 1. Thank you to those who said hello.

If you missed the news that I had taken a break, I expect the algorithms failed to inform you. It makes sense; why would the platforms want to give you an idea to take your break?

How about you?

Have you ever taken a break from social media? How did it work for you?