Instagram. Snapchat. Facebook. Reddit. The four pillars of unproductivity in my life. I don’t know how many countless hours I’ve wasted in the void that is the Explore section on Instagram. There are times when my roommates and I sit on the couch in silence for hours scrolling through Instagram or on Reddit. Millenials get ragged on all the time for always being on their phones instead of going out and being productive. However, overconsumption of entertainment isn’t exclusive to the younger generation. Does this scenario sound familiar? Get home from a long day of work, crack open a beer, and watch some T.V. For most millennials like myself, television has been replaced by social media and Netflix. It doesn’t matter what avenue you use to consume your entertainment, it still begets unproductivity.
Being in my mid 20’s, I have all these aspirations and things I want to do before I settle down and evolve into a real adult. I want to travel more, challenge myself by learning new things, and enjoy my independence before I have little mini-me’s who depend on me. Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure it’s possible to do all these things while being married and having kids. However, judging by my coworker’s lack of sleep and time, I’m going to assume it is very difficult. Basically, what I’m trying to say is that I need to stop wasting so much time looking at memes and watching basketball highlights on Instagram.
The first thing I needed to figure out was which apps I spent the most amount of time on. I use Moment which is an iOS app that tracks how much screen time you use on your phone every day. If you’re looking for an in-depth review on Moment, click here. Moment showed that I spend a disgusting amount of time on Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook, and Reddit. Armed with this knowledge, I challenged myself to delete these apps for a month to see how important these apps are to my daily life and focus on other interests. I got my roommates to do the same thing because why suffer alone?
I don’t think I’m exaggerating when I say the majority of people who use social media every day are addicted to it. According to Google Trends, “phone addiction” and “social media addiction” have increased steadily over the past five years. I’m almost embarrassed to admit that I went through some withdrawal symptoms when I deleted social media from my phone. What’s the first thing you do when you get bored? For me, I look at my phone. I found myself mindlessly scrolling through my home screen subconsciously looking for one of the apps I deleted to have something to do. There were so many instances where I had a phantom finger that would hover over where Instagram used to be before remembering that I deleted the app. I actually remember thinking to myself, “I am so bored, what am I supposed to do with my phone”. Pretty pathetic, right? I wasn’t the only one who went through the withdrawal phase. My roommates were on the struggle bus as well. They are full-fledged Reddit addicts. They get all their news and entertainment through Reddit. This was also around fantasy football playoffs which is why I think my roommate got crushed.
The withdrawal phase lasted close to two weeks. Once you get over the hump, it’s pretty liberating. I spent more time writing articles for deTeched. I made it a New Year’s Resolution to read more books and expand my knowledge in computer programming. The amount of screen time dropped drastically from my normal use. I found myself only using my phone for phone calls, texts, and reading magazines on Texture. I became increasingly aware of how often I was plugged into social media when I was going about my daily life. If I went to Chipotle for lunch, I would sit and peruse Reddit to pass the time while I was eating. Instead, I became more aware of my surroundings which made me notice that there are a ton of people who are plugged into their phone and completely disconnected to the world around them. My roommates had a similar experience. One spent more time focusing on his photography. Check out some of his awesome photos by clicking here. My other roommate spent more time on his side hustle which is to consult others on cryptocurrency. Check out his great introductory article on buying your first Bitcoin using Coinbase. Here’s a link to his site if you’re interested in learning more about cryptocurrency.
It may seem like I’m preaching that everyone should delete social media, but I’m not. I think social media platforms like Instagram are a great way to connect with other people and see what’s going on in their lives. It only becomes an issue when it consumes you and prevents you from actually going out and living life. I realized during this exercise of giving up social media for a month what I actually missed about the apps I deleted. The majority of my friends use Instagram as their only social media platform so Instagram is a good way of staying connected with people I don’t see any more similar to what Facebook used to be. Facebook is now a wasteland of cat videos and strangers bickering about politics. Snapchat is a dying platform.I decided to re-download Instagram and keep everything else deleted. What I’m challenging everyone to do is to see what apps you’re spending the most time on and try giving it up for a month. Whether you have aspirations to learn something new or start a side hustle, this is a great first step. You’ll really get to understand what’s important to you in terms of social media and how you use your phone. Let us know in the comments how your experience goes.