A Social Media Detox Diary

20 IMPACT Off grid: My five day social detox detox media detox diary

What happens when we separate ourselves from the world of likes, stories and notifications? Impact’s Victoria Mileson took a five day social media detox to find out.

My days are bookended by checking social media. It’s the first thing I do when I wake up and the last thing I do before I go to sleep. I find myself mindlessly scrolling whilst half-watching TV. My attention is rarely undivided. So, I decided to log off for five days, an experience that ultimately opened my eyes to how we are more dependent on social media than we care to admit.

Day One: My phone’s home page looked decidedly empty – various news apps took pride of place, with gaps where my social media apps used to conveniently sit. I forgot that I had committed to a social media detox and my thumb kept instinctively hovering over the empty spaces on my screen.

Day Two and Three: Gradually, I began to adapt to my newfound spare time. The hardest part was waking up and remembering that scrolling through whatever I had missed overnight was no longer part of my daily routine. Once I gave up the endless scrolling episodes, however, I had bursts of productivity. The busier I became, the sooner I forgot about the role social media previously played in my life. Getting on with things was much more interesting than watching other people living out their lives. Day Four: Admittedly, on the more boring days, I found myself wanting to scroll. I missed the mindless action of scrolling and considered allowing myself a few minutes of Instagram time. I didn’t partake. Social media is one of the most common distractions out there; but ironically, I needed a distraction from it.

Day Five: Overall, I didn’t feel I was missing out on anything. My five-day detox came to an end sooner than I had anticipated. On day one, I was working out how long I had left until I could click ‘reinstall’. By day five, I was realising that I used social media just to pass the time. There was no catharsis when I could finally return to the online world. In fact, I now rarely spend more than a few minutes checking Instagram because I got bored of it so quickly once I logged back into everything. While social media can be useful for staying in touch with people, logging off didn’t make me feel disconnected whatsoever. I suppose I knew I could go back to it; I had a target date to reach. Maybe giving it up completely would be harder, but logging off for a few days is something I would definitely do again.

By Victoria Mileson Illustrations by Philippa Stazicker Page Design by Chiara Crompton