It's been 5 months since I deleted Instagram. I was recently asked to speak on a podcast about social media and it brought up a lot of interesting questions that were really fun to answer, as well as revisiting my "why" behind closing that door in my life. I thoroughly enjoyed the whole process even though it was way outside of my comfort zone! You can find the podcast here if you are interested in listening.
I discovered the benefits of life without social media in 2013 when I deleted Facebook and I'm happy to say that the benefits are still as rich and good now as they were then. The lack of distraction, the quality of life, the mental calm, and the depth of relationships are all huge benefits of living without social media. It helps me focus on what I need to do in my own home and what my own family needs, not what everyone else is doing or needing. I have the space to slowly formulate my ideas and thoughts on things instead of feeling reactionary to all the ideas and opinions thrown at me every day on social media.
Social media has really found their niche and honed in on what they are good at. It pulls at our deepest human desire for relationships - to be known, seen, and loved. We were created for relationships. Most times when people talk about social media, they view it in a negative light. Most wish they could delete it forever but their drawback is the "community" and relationships they think they will lose if they leave. This is a huge and very valid thing to grapple with. The other thing social media is good at is the ease of use. It's so easy to use. It's quick and efficient. This is appealing to us for a couple of reasons: (1.) we default to the easiest thing (2.) we are busy/have short chunks of time. Sitting down to write a letter, taking time to make a phone call, having someone over for a meal - they all take a bit of effort and time. Time is something we all wish we had more of and so we look for things that will give us what we want in the least amount of time.
Our whole society is built around convenience and that is one thing that social media platforms have really used to their advantage. It is so convenient. But here is the downfall of that - relationships take work and time. Friendships and reputations take effort and faithfulness to build. It's messy and it's work. It's wonderful and hard. Social media is not an accurate picture of what it takes to truly build community and friendships. It is the knock-off, the counterfeit, of the real deal. The danger of this is that we get impatient or even forget how much time and effort real, deep, meaningful relationships take. We get accustomed to the quick and easy interactions online, or the passing ones of our every day life, and forget to take the time to really pour into those around us. I will build on this thought in my next post.
If you have been considering leaving social media, my suggestion would be to:
(1.) Have a plan for what you are going to do instead of being on social media. For example, the most time I spent interacting with social media was while I was nursing my youngest and confined to a chair. When I deleted social media, I decided I wanted to spend that time reading a book instead. I figured out the things I wanted to do and were more important to me than social media like writing letters or working on projects, blogging, or learning new skills. Things that enrich my life and bring value, not just deplete my time and energy.
(2.) Invest in people. Make sure you are creating a community around you in real life. People you could pray with. People who will bring you meals when you are sick and you do the same for. Look for ways to befriend others. Be the friend you want to have in your life. Be patient. It takes time to start seeing the results of your efforts, just like any investment. But the dividends it pays for the rest of your life is wonderful!
I look forward to diving deeper into this in my next post!