10 Days Without Social Media – Could You Do It?

Earlier this year, I put some time aside to have a complete blackout from my personal social media accounts for 10 days. This included Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat and so on. I also removed my WhatsApp during this period (WhatsApp is not strictly a social media application but people share social media content through it, especially on group chats).

Now I know what you’re thinking… "10 days? Is that it?"

This may not seem like a very long time, but it’s clear from speaking to people about this issue that what is considered to be "a long time" is very much subjective. I asked some of my friends on their thoughts on the issue and whether they could live without social media for an extended period of time and here are some of the responses I received:

“I could probably give up social media if I really wanted to, but I don’t actually want to. I don’t necessarily see it as a bad thing. I like having a distraction from the real world now and then.”

“I think social media makes life more interesting…So much doom and gloom in the world.”

“My last Instagram post was a year ago…Social media is there for convenience.”

“The one I would find most difficult to be without is Facebook from an organisational point of view – because of events which friends and family set up on there.”

“I could easily survive without social media. I took a 4 year hiatus from it and I didn’t miss it at all. My life didn’t change and the people I consider to be my friends stayed my friends. I think it’s necessary to take a break from social media every once in a while to regain perspective on real life and the things that matter.”

Before I continue, I should make it clear that the purpose of this post is not to suggest that social media is in some way a very negative thing (I’m sure it can be for some people in some situations). This was not the reason why I decided to do it. I’ve tried to be as honest as I can in this post about my own personal experience and thoughts before, during and after the 10-day period. 

Why?

I’ve wanted to try this for a long time for various reasons. I'm a firm believer in being able to ask questions about yourself and your lifestyle. I asked myself the following questions:

How important is social media in my life or how much do I rely on it?

What would my life be like without social media?

How much value does social media add to my life?

I won’t shy away from the fact that a big part of me did want to get away from everything social media related and go back to basics for a while. I had hoped to detach myself from the vast ocean of free exchanging information and constant connection to a network of everybody I knew – all of which was at my fingertips…all the time. For a brief period, I wanted to know how it felt to be without that.

Here are some of my thoughts during and after the 10-day period:

I was less attached to my mobile phone (much less!)

It took time to adjust to this but it got to a point where I was happy to be without my phone for long periods of time. I wasn’t constantly checking my phone for notifications or messages. I mainly use WhatsApp, SMS or social media to communicate through my phone and I very rarely have lengthy phone calls with friends or family. In all honesty, not being as attached to my phone was certainly a liberating feeling.

My mobile phone battery lasted an eternity

It probably won’t surprise you to know how much battery those applications drain!

10 days went quickly

This did surprise me a little although it suggested that I am not as attached to social media as I thought. Perhaps it’s just something that I want to have in my life but not necessarily need. I wasn’t sitting around twiddling my thumbs and I went about my day as normal.

I was still able to keep in touch with my friends regularly

It was refreshing to know that cutting out social media (and WhatsApp) did not affect my regular communication with friends. We used SMS and phone calls to chat and I still met with them in person as always. Of course, there were less instant messaging type conversations and instant sharing of photos or videos (or memes) that would normally take place but this didn’t bother me.

I often check social media out of boredom

This is an honest assessment and something I won’t hide from. Many of us do this whether we would like to admit it or not. We unlock our phone and go through endless feeds not because we need to but simply because we want something to keep us busy and entertained. Having something like this available at our fingertips makes it easy.  

There is no way to hide from social media

This was the most fascinating thing I took from this whole experience. I regularly read and watch the news from a variety of sources and almost every day of the blackout period I was kept up to date with social media trends, tweets or videos that were posted by users on social media. All of this was through regular news sources. A quote which came to my mind while writing this blog post and when thinking about this point more recently was in relation to Donald Trump. One of the senators during ex-FBI director James Comey’s recent senate hearing said:

“I can think of multiple 140-character expressions he’s made publicly to express he’s not fond of the investigation...Quite frankly, the president has informed around 6 billion people he’s not real fond of this investigation.”

How do you escape that? You can’t. This exposure, more than anything else, illustrates the true influence and power of social media.

We take Facebook birthday reminders for granted

Come on…you know it’s true. Facebook is an invaluable tool to remind you about birthdays which you would not normally remember or be expected to remember (for example, birthdays of those people outside your close family or friends circle). It has been made so easy for us, so much so that we use it without even realising how much we rely on it.

Many people I know use Facebook to organise events

This can be an incredible limitation if you are not on Facebook and an event is organised through it. I experienced this during my blackout and often found myself reaching out to the organiser so that I could get more details despite the fact that this had all been shared already with everyone who was invited through Facebook. You may be thinking that this is not really a huge problem. Normally, you would know all the details of an event through conventional means but this does become more difficult when the plans or some details change and the organiser updates everyone through Facebook only. Planning large group events in this way is becoming more and more common.

The amount of information we process and hoard through social media is surreal

What really showed during this period was the amount of information I process through social media - the feeds, statuses, messages, photos, videos, tweets, snaps, blogs (yes, I realise the irony – a blog much like this one) and articles.

I work in an editorial role in my day job which involves a considerable amount of writing, reading and processing large amounts of information but what I didn’t realise is how much I do that outside of work. I did much less of this during the 10-day period and the absence of this, even in that very short period of time, was noticeable.

Social media can portray your life to be something it isn’t

I receive many comments about my travels which are mostly positive but there are quite a few people who assume I am constantly travelling. Don't get me wrong, I love travelling and I try to do it often but the truth is, I am not jet setting across the world non-stop (I wish!). Strangely, this is what people assume when they see my posts on social media but what they do not see is what happens in between those trips.

Would people view this aspect of my life differently if I were not on social media or if I didn't post my travel photos on there? Is it because I am unintentionally portraying my life to be this way through my posts?

A close friend of mine recently told me that she received a message in response to one of her posts on Instagram. Another user had said how envious he was of her life and how he wished his life was as “perfect” as hers. She felt very uneasy when reading this comment because her life was anything but and she felt bad that people thought this way about her. When she told me and my friends this story, another one of my friends said to her in response:

 “Some people take social media too seriously…nobody’s life is that perfect”.

I couldn’t agree more.

Some people get a warped view of other people’s lives because of what they see on social media. Sometimes even without intending to do so, we portray our life to be something it’s not. 

Social media is a great platform for expressing myself in any way I want

Despite everything I’ve mentioned above, this is one aspect of social media which is truly important to me. I use social media as a means to express myself, my feelings, my thoughts and my passions. I do this mainly by sharing my travel experiences, sharing photos that I've taken or videos that I've created. I like to share quotes which I've found inspiring and I have often voiced my opinion on issues I've felt passionate about. Of course, I have other ways in which I express myself too and we all do this in our own way even outside of social media but no other platform allows such freedom and creativity.

It’s difficult to say whether in those 10 days I felt a void of some kind but if I were to miss anything from being without social media for a long period of time, this would certainly be it.

Could I do it again?

Yes. I think I could and I probably will. Next time, I would like to do it for much longer to see the impact it has on my life over an extended period.

I’ve definitely gained some perspective from this experience and I've learnt a lot about myself. I've learnt that I don’t rely on social media as much as I thought I did. It’s something I like being part of and it allows me to do things which I probably could not do in the same way 20 years ago.

Taking a break from social media does allow you to focus on the value of things in your life. I am reluctant to say "the value of things in your real life" because that suggests social media is some make-believe world we use to escape our physical lives - which simply is not the case for everyone.

There is no denying the benefits of social media but in this day and age it's very easy to get attached to it to the point where it becomes a fundamental part of your life. On a personal level, I’m glad to know that I can separate myself from social media by choice and that I don't suffer from any form of separation anxiety. What I value in my life would remain unaffected by the absence of social media. Life would go on as normal.

10 days without social media. Could you do it?

About the writer:

Umair works in a legal editorial role at Thomson Reuters and has been part of the company's Global Volunteer Network over the last few years. His interests include travelling, volunteering, sport, photography, writing, human rights and philosophy. He is an active user of social media apps such as Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.