Why I Quit Social Media and You Should Too

I’ve quit using social media for more than a year. Instagram, Snapchat, & Facebook and all the other unknown fancy platforms what I learned had added a lot of value to my life. Hence I thought of sharing it with you in this post so you can do it too.

I still use YouTube for a while to learn a concept and Whats App only when its needed (I have a specific time slot for it). Updated 2020, I use Twitter to engage with like minded people.

People call these type of humans as “weird” or “not so modern”. I’m not here to convince you to stop using social media but just going to share my experience here and learning in that process.

Lets get started.

1. First, why did I quit social media?
2. We actually don’t miss anything
3. You create lot of fake relations over social media
4. I was more happy than ever

Lets get started…

1. First, why did I quit social media?

I made a habit of constantly checking my phone and was wasting a lot of time scrolling through FB and Insta feeds that were so unimportant. I started scrolling whenever I was bored or after talking to my parents for few mins.

Even when I was doing some really important work and was running short of time, I was still using Facebook and Instagram because I actually made a habit.

I guess you’ll now say this. “Well, why couldn’t I control myself?”

That’s a valid point. However we need to accept the fact that social media is designed to be addictive.

There are some greatest minds than us who’re using their brain, technology and billions of dollars every year in research to create and update the so beautiful and easy to use platform with all the facility that you can actually spend all the day without realizing how much time you’ve actually wasted.

I’m sure 99% of people reading this are not earning anything out of social media, are you? If yes, then you’re good to go ahead. However, if you’re working full time in a job which has no relation to social media then you’re better off reading a book or learning something to acquire new skills and knowledge.

Some may say social media is a stress buster or a good hobby to relax when you’ve worked really hard. Really? We’ll get that covered in the following points.

2. We actually don’t miss anything.

Whenever we get a notification, we immediately check it thinking we might miss something that is time sensitive. Whenever we refresh the page, we’re instantly rewarded with a great news feed of our so called happy friends or celebrities.

But in reality what we miss is those internet MEMES and gossip that doesn’t add any value to our life. Or some news about some politician saying this and worrying about it more.

Now you’ll say what about those news about incidents or disaster that are actually helpful?

Well this is a good thing about social media. Information is spread very rapidly. However, if ever hear about a disaster and they ask for a donation. How often do we take any action?

But in reality, we get 100 fake or non sense news in comparison to 1 actual news.

3. You create lot of fake relations over social media

This is a kind of depression fact but true.

When we see a photo of our old friend, we think we still know them. We think we’re connected through Facebook.

In reality, we do not even talk to them since ages. Its been so many years since we’ve seen them in person and we’re actually not the same person anymore. More than a decade have passed and they have their own life ahead of them now. If you unfollow them by any chance, they’ll hardly notice.

We may have 1000s of Facebook friends and get 100s of likes on our photo but when we really need someone, we will only have our parents on our side or your spouse and we hardly spend any time with them because of social media. Think about it!!

4. More happiness then ever

I was happy because I was not seeing their so-called perfect lives on social media when we all know it’s different in reality. There was no comparison because we all are different with different abilities and family background.

I was living my life and was making some real friends who cared about me in person.

Now I’ve started using social media but its with a new strategy. I’ve turned off all the notifications. I only follow those friends who are close to me or the pages that teaches me something.

If you’ve read this far which means you’re probably facing the same problem. Hence I challenge you to start working on your goal or any dream that you want to achieve in your life and keep it a secret for 6 months. No show-offs, no announcements, nothing. But you need to stay true to yourself and do it consistently.

The progress that you’ll make will surprise you for sure.

Do you think social media has any benefit in reality?

Let me know your thoughts in the comments section. Till then, see you in the next post.