Do you know why you should stop using social media? Maybe you’ve hit a point of realization that social media isn’t all it seems to be. Perhaps there’s more to life than posting, scrolling, liking, following, and more.
After all, social media is endless. You won’t ever have enough time to consume everything on there. And you shouldn’t want to. While social media can be a great tool to connect with people from around the world and influence others for good, it can also affect mental health, productivity, and creativity.
So is there a better way to connecting with others, instead of using social media?
In this article, we will tackle why you should stop using social media. But we’ll also explore the flip side of using social media and how you can have a healthy relationship with it. So let’s dive right in! Here are the reasons why you should stop using social media:
Social media makes you anxious
Do you ever look at social media then get off and think, “I’m just not cool enough for…” In other words, “I’m not enough.” Social media can make you feel anxious, even if you’re looking at good things.
When big events happen, the “doom scrolling,” as they call it, can really affect your mental health and anxiety. It’s easy to feel fearful of everyone and everything happening.
However, there’s another anxiety that can slip in from social media usage. Even when you view photos and content from people you love, it can cause anxiety. “They’re doing so well… and I’m not…” You can feel happy for them, heart their pictures, and comment, but there’s something growing inside of you. It accumulates from seeing more and more content like this: happy families, big smiles, huge life events, celebrations, and more…
Though you’re not consuming anything inappropriate, anxiety can quietly tell you, based on these pictures, “you won’t measure up.”
I’ve talked to countless people who want to create something, or take a bold move to start a business or out-of-the-norm endeavor, but they stop themselves. When I ask them why, the most common answer I receive is, “What will people think of me?”
We’re so used to seeing other people’s lives broadcasted, and feeling so lame and crappy about our own. We won’t ever measure up to other people’s lives. This causes great anxiety, hindering people from doing what they love and creating the beautiful life. It cuts down self confidence, even if you’re not watching or consuming anything bad.
Social media makes you compare your life with others
Similar to causing anxiety, social media makes you compare yourself with others.
Even if you see a post from someone you love, the brain naturally reacts with questions and comments that distract us from what matters most.
“Why can’t I look like that?”
“That’s not fair.”
“How come they get to do that and I don’t?”
Instead of looking at the abundance and blessings in our lives, we see the lack… and all because someone else has “more.”
Social media wastes time
If you’re like most people, you open the app on your phone and start scrolling through feeds, stories, and more. You don’t even think about it—it just happens.
Before you know it, an hour has passed. You rush to get other things done, feeling irritable and unfulfilled.
Social media fills your mind with unnecessary clutter
Have you ever been into a cluttered room, with random things everywhere? It feels claustrophobic, unorganized, and chaotic. Even though you may not have felt that way before entering the room, you might feel that way after you leave.
There’s something about the energy of clutter and random messes that distracts our minds and can even throw off our own energy.
The same applies to social media. When you go on a social media app and scroll aimlessly, it’s like slushing through that cluttered room. It doesn’t feel good. You don’t know what you’ll find. Maybe you’ll even bump into something you didn’t want to see or experience.
You don’t need that kind of clutter. Though it’s not physical, it’s definitely mental brain clutter. When you get off social media, after realizing you haven’t found anything to distract you long enough, you feel drained. You feel sloppy, unfulfilled.
Social media is addicting
Some people are addicted without even realizing it. After all, social media is not a drug or substance that you physically consume. However, it can be addicting and harmful for mental health, especially when one spends endless hours on it, comparing themselves to others and wasting time.
Social media has inappropriate content, even when you’re not looking for it
It doesn’t matter if you follow the most conservative, religious, or moral people… social media contains inappropriate content. This content shows up when you’re not even looking for it. Pornography, especially, can really affect the mind in negative ways, even something as small as a glimpse, video, or picture stays in the mind for a long time.
Over time, these kinds of images can be destructive. They can also lead to more pornography or other degrading and harmful addictions and habits.
Whether we like it or not, social media has these types of inappropriate, derogatory, and crude content.
Social media takes you away from what matters most
We live in a narcissistic society, where everything—everything—has to be documented (but does it?). Every picture, memory, and event must be recorded and photographed. Some people go to great lengths to record “the perfect moment.”
When they post their “perfect” pictures, they receive tons of likes and comments. The happiness and exhilaration from this attention is fleeting. Once the hubbub dies down, a person must get more and more perfect pictures.
It’s an endless, toxic cycle.
It’s time to let go of perfectionism, and re-evaluate what matters most. Is social media more important than spending quality time with family? Is checking for likes, comments, and follows more important than connecting with someone in real life?
We’ve become so confused about what’s truly important that families and society pay the price for a negligent parent, a distracted spouse, uninterested child, disconnected student, irritable coworker, and so forth. Social media connects us with people but… is it really connection?
Take your life back
On the flip side, what would your life look like if you stopped using social media?
Think about it for a moment.
Would you be happier? Would you have more time?
Now think about this: What if you controlled your social media usage?
You’d still use social media, but would you feel more confident, more in control?
My husband and I often talk about making sure that we control our phones and not that our phones control us. We recently went on a trip to visit family, and our phones were hardly touched the entire time. At the end of the day, when we went into our bedroom, we looked at our phones. I had no energy to reply to anyone—and, quite frankly, I didn’t want to.
I had such a good time with family, focusing on them, staying present, making memories, and enjoying the moment. Too often family time looks like a bunch of people in the same room with their phones and that needs to stop. Sometimes family time is bombarded with phones, as people take hundreds of pictures and videos… for what? Probably for social media.
There’s nothing wrong with taking a few pictures and videos for your own memory’s sake, but truly evaluate your intent. Control your phone and devices, don’t let them control you.
In this next section, we’re going to explore a little more hopeful side of social media. It’s not all doom and gloom. You don’t have to be anxious every time you get off. And you certainly don’t need to waste hours upon hours of scrolling endless feeds. Take your life, time, energy, and resources back. As you do so, your confidence grows naturally.
Set boundaries and be intentional
Before you go on an social media apps today, make a list of what apps you have. What are the purposes of each of those apps? Do you need all of them? Why? Why not?
Set boundaries and be intentional about what apps you use and how you use them.
For example, we use Instagram, YouTube, and Pinterest for this blog, Kanani Life. We only go on the apps to post and respond to comments. The boundary and purposes are clear: no scrolling, just posting, replying to people, and then get off. It takes less than 30 minutes to do all of it each time we choose to post.
What are your purposes and boundaries of each app? Unclear and sloppy boundaries will yield unclear and sloppy results. If you don’t know your why of going on the app, stop yourself and make sure it’s crystal clear before going on. Not only does this save you time and energy, but it frees up mental space for creativity and doing other things that matter most.
Focus on what matters most
Speaking of what matters most, ask yourself: What matters most to me?
Sometimes we get so addicted and obsessed with social media, that we can’t stop looking, can’t stop scrolling, and can’t stop thinking about it.
I know there was a point that I worried about my social media account to the point that I thought of every strategy, every post, everything I needed to do to gain more followers. I was soooo unhappy. YouTube videos and online coaches shared free webinars and classes on how to get more followers, so I watched, learned, implemented, and focused but… I was so unhappy.
Then I realized that my focus and center had changed. I focused so much on social media, I lost sight of what mattered most in my life, which are my relationships with loved ones and God. Creativity, hopes, and dreams, also bring satisfaction and a zest for life.
So what matters most to you? And are you spending the most time and energy on those things that matter most?
This is tough love but… you can say all you want that family, God, and goals matter to you… but those words are empty until you do something about it.
Get rid of it altogether
While you can set boundaries, unfollow or mute people, and have a clear WHY to using social media, sometimes it’s better to get rid of it altogether.
I had a insightful conversation with my sister about our lives growing up. We were home-schooled, so my mom took us on field trips and community events. “Did mom have anxiety?” my sister asked.
The more I thought about it, the more I realized… No. She didn’t have anxiety. My mom was awesome, taking us to stuff, making sure we learned and were active in the community and church.
Wait… what was so different between our generation today and my mom’s generation?
Why didn’t she have anxiety, while most of us today do?
Social media. It has changed everything. The way we connect with people, make memories, and even the way we record memories. We’ve stopped living in the moment, and, instead, worry about documenting everything for others to see. Instead of cherishing and treasuring small moments in our lives, we feel the pressure and need to broadcast that.
My mom didn’t have that pressure. She was able to live in the moment. Sometimes she took pictures, but, mostly, we just enjoyed ourselves. We didn’t focus on getting the perfect picture, having the perfect time, or even worrying about what others might think of our experience. No. We just lived in the moment.
And when we connected with others, we could share about our experiences. There was no need to broadcast that experience to the world via social media. The real life connection and sharing helped everyone feel belonging and a sense of place.
The “new normal”
Social media has changed that completely. So if you’re at this point where the anxiety, comparison game, time wasting, irritability, clutter, and noise have taken over your life, maybe it’s time to detox.
Give yourself the option of it, at least. There’s nothing wrong with deleting an account, taking a break, and then, if you’re ready and wanting to, create a new account and start fresh. Give yourself permission and options.
In conclusion
I hope this article has shed light on why you should get rid of social media. It’s not an evil or bad thing to have, but it is time consuming and mind clutter if you don’t have boundaries or a clear purpose to using it.
Social media can take us away from what matters most.
I hope, one day, we can all realize that real connections happen in real life. Sure, there are moments on social media, but, as humans, we’re not meant to consume so much information all the time. We can only handle so much.
Take care of yourself, please. If social media has overtaken your life, give yourself permission and options to get rid of it, take a break, or quit cold turkey. You got this friend!
What do you think?
Should you stop using social media altogether? What would your life look like without social media? Let us know in the comments. We’d love to hear from you. Mahalo!
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