Life Without Social Media

It all started with Facebook more than ten years ago, and fast forward, we were trapped in a world where everyone is everywhere, showing off their lives, and the last thing we knew was we could not imagine a life without social media. Today, it’s not only Zuckerberg’s genius invention that is fighting for our precious time, energy, and attention. There is Instagram, YouTube, Twitter, TikTok, and a lot more.

If you are wondering if it is possible to live a life without social media, my answer is yes.

I Delete My Personal Accounts

For the past decade that I’ve been using social media, specifically Facebook and Instagram, I saw how it evolved from a quiet and personal online diary into a loud and cluttered marketplace; and from a port that connects us to our loved ones into severing our desire to be loved by everyone. However, in May 2024 I finally had the guts to delete my personal social media accounts.

I lost all the photos, videos, and dramatic storytelling I posted for the past ten years. I lost access to my family, friends, relatives, and old colleagues’ life updates.

My Messenger contacts were gone. People won’t be able to text or call me via the messenger app anymore and vice versa. I lost old text threads, important information, and beautiful memories. 

I decided to take down those personal accounts because it didn’t help my life get better in many ways. The negative effects of using it were severely ruling over my life instead of making it better, easier, and healthier. I became disconnected from my authentic self and the mission that I was supposed to focus on.

Negative Effects of Social Media

Social media are tools that could be of help when utilized properly and could ruin a lot of areas in life if used unconsciously and without the right intentions. First, let me talk about the negative effects of social media that made me shift to a life without it. Consider the following points if you are thinking of doing the same.

1. It gives wrong perceptions about life (and the life of others)

A single photo showing a person’s success or major milestone is often perceived as that person’s entire life. Our brain may wrongly interpret that achieving good things in life is as easy as how it looks on a social media post.

It is deceiving us. Life is not easy. Human beings should toil and work hard to achieve success. There are no fruits without planting seeds. But because of this deception, our tolerance to endure challenges decreases. Instead of focusing on working hard for our dreams and strengthening our minds to not give up easily, we waste our time and energy on envy, comparison, and self-pity.

A social media post hides more than what it shows about a person. Say you saw a post from a famous influencer showing off her brand new luxury car and a collection of luxurious bags, have you seen her sleepless nights, working on building her business? The fears she had to face and the heartbreaks she had to endure when people she trusted betrayed her?

Do not think that following someone else’s life makes you more knowledgeable about his/her life. The more you see about others, the more you don’t know.

2. Wasting too much time and energy on prying into other people’s lives instead of focusing on your self-growth and life purpose.

Have you asked yourself how many important tasks you could have probably completed if you did not mindlessly skim through social feeds for an hour and a half?

You could have finished reading a book that you bought four months ago.

If you are a parent, give undivided attention to your child in a play that he enjoys doing with you.

You could have finished that dream passion project.

3. Disrupts focus and attention span which leads to poor memory and mental performance.

Social media apps entice users to engage for a long period. Even a five-minute continuous skimming on different contents can make us visually and mentally overstimulated and make our brains disoriented and tired. This makes our daily routine and performance poor and unproductive.

In the early 2000’s it was normal for people to memorize their family and friend’s phone numbers. Today, we even struggle to remember our own mobile numbers.

4. Increases your susceptibility to depression, anxiety, and other mental health problems.

And because of the poor brain power mentioned in No. 3, we can get stressed easily. Stress weakens our emotions and rationality. It creates hormonal imbalances which makes us more prone to acquire mental health problems.

The rate of depression and other mental health problems dramatically increased from the early 2000s up to this date, especially among teenagers and young adults. One of the causes that studies found was excessive exposure to the internet including social media platforms.

Life Without Social Media

Social media today has become part of our lives either used for personal or business. It is a significant part of 21st-century culture, a global norm that everyone thinks should live with. This is somehow true because social media is now used not only for personal interests but also for commercial enterprises. It is part of the economy, and for the age group that participates in the exchange of goods and services, it would be difficult to live without social media at all.

In this blog, I am particularly talking about life without social media for personal interests. The one that makes people waste time and energy, delusional about the truth about other people’s lives, envy, anxiety, and depression. 

It is difficult to live a life without social media entirely because it is also a tool for e-commerce and makes our purchasing life easier and faster. Honestly, I am not living without it in full. I still have social media accounts but only for doing business matters.

Here’s what you can do:

1. Delete your personal social media accounts.
2. Create a new account for business/purchasing purposes only.
3. Do not let people know about the new account. Do not add or follow anyone.
4. Do not share photos, videos, or written posts about your personal life.
5. Do not pry into other people’s lives by following their feeds or by using the ‘Search’ box.
6. Do not use mobile phones and other gadgets to watch random videos to ‘pass time’.
7. Use your mobile phone only for necessary calls and texts (not to chit chat and stay updated with other people’s lives that don’t bring growth in your life).

Being able to control yourself from using social media for personal satisfaction is life-changing. It takes willpower, discipline, and strong motivation to succeed in choosing the path of life without social media. The thing is, it is possible and you can do it too.

My Realizations After Living Life Without Social Media

Instead of fearing that you will miss out on the best things in the world if you virtually disconnect from other people, look on the bright side. There is so much to learn and benefit from it. Here are my ten beautiful realizations.

1. There is nothing to fear about disconnecting from important people in your life. People who value their relationship with you will find a way to stay connected. (You can email, Whatsapp, or Zoom.)
2. Focus on what is in front of you (not what’s on the screen). It will make you present and grounded which increases your value and gratitude for what you have.
3. You will become your own best friend.
4. You will learn to trust more. What is meant for you will come to you through other means. (Social media is not the only way.)
5. Pray for others or wish them well. When you remember an old friend, pray for him/her instead of scrolling through his/her feed.
6. Do not look for artificial love, acceptance, and validation. It is good to feel validated by others but nothing is more beautiful than embracing your strengths, flaws, and weaknesses.
7. Create more time for the things that you love to do.
8. Slow living brings peace and order in life. Life without social media removes the pressure that your life needs to be moving and progressing all the time.
9. Better relationships with people that are physically present in your life.
10. Learn to accept that most people you meet will not be with you every chapter of life. They come and go when the purpose is served. It is okay not to stay connected when the chapter with them ends. The memories and lessons you shared with them stay.

Social media is neither good nor bad. It is how we use them that makes it beneficial or a reason for a poor quality of life. However, social media companies will do everything to keep you engaging with their sites. The best approach is to delete your personal accounts. 

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Shifting Psyche has social media business accounts but I don’t invest too much time and energy there to keep my marketing up. If you want to receive future helpful articles from me without using social media, join my mailing list to receive my e-letters and updates.