I Took A Social Media Detox Week And Here's What Happened

ah, social media. it is all at once our loyal BFF and our utter nemesis.

like pretty much everyone else (except that one periphery friend we all have who went back to a flip phone just to out-hipster the rest of us), I find myself falling victim day after day to the siren song that is social media.

it’s kind of impossible not to in modern society, and let’s face it - there are some amazing benefits of the connectivity and community it creates. but now that it’s such a normal part of our daily lives, we pick up the phone (I don’t dare check how many times a day) and scroll incessantly on autopilot without even thinking about it.

to be completely honest, my social media detox week was not really a choice. it was kind of an accident. I had always thought it would be a good idea to take time off of social media, but kind of like learning how to make pasta or finally trying that intimidating kickboxing class, it never happened.

what did happen though was that my husband and I went on a transatlantic cruise last month for his work, and that cruise, despite being amazing, had absolutely abysmal internet.

once it became clear that it was gonna take about 23 minutes for my instagram feed to load one person’s post, I decided it was time to take the plunge. basically, the universe forced me into a social media detox.

now, someone is probably about .2 seconds away from calling me out because I did post a couple times that week, but for the most part, I was almost entirely off the grid and I’m deciding that it counts.

here are five things that happened as soon as I decided to dive into detox mode:

1. I Actually Got Sh*t Done

since this cruise was a company function for my husband, we both worked all week during the day. at first, I thought not having internet would be a major crisis since my job relies so heavily on interacting with my audience and being online. but you know what? I accomplished way more stuff without internet.

this is going to sound obvious, but I was actually able to focus on the task at hand instead of constantly being distracted by incoming text messages, dog videos, someone from high school who I haven’t spoken to in 12 years’ caribbean vacation, etc. there just wasn’t anything to do except work.

I also think working without internet forces you to get creative and get things done that would otherwise fall behind. Editing photos, adjusting song mixes, writing drafts for blogs and creating graphics for tours and future social posts are all things I can do offline. it was actually insane how much stuff I got done.

2. I Had Great Conversations

not only did I get a lot of work done, but I also really got a chance to hang out with my husband Brett and just talk.

we’ve been together for 10 years, and anyone who has been in a relationship for awhile knows too well that when you’re super comfortable with someone, you’re not necessarily ‘on’ 100% of the time trying to be a great conversationalist like you are in the first few months of dating.

in a way, it’s an awesome thing to be so comfortable with someone that you don’t have to say anything, but not if it leads to both of you scrolling through your phone at dinner (definitely guilty of this) over and over.

we had such a great time people watching and chatting about whatever came up, and it was a really fun time to reconnect and unplug.

3. I Was In The Moment And Appreciated Little Things

one of the most common things you hear from people who take time off of social media is that they’re more present without it. sometimes the whole ‘just be present’ thing strikes me as kind of an annoying self-help-y BS vibe, but I didn’t realize how helpful it really was until I actually did it.

without the automatic grab-the-phone-and-check-something tendency, I was able to really appreciate the small things and enjoy the moment so much more. I even enjoyed a glass of wine slower and more mindfully than I would have if I was drinking it while screwing around on my phone.

I also really took in the scenery of being out in the middle of the atlantic without being preoccupied with getting the perfect pic.

4. I Made Time For Things I Enjoy

before bed at home we usually end up binging our latest netflix obsession, but on this cruise there were only a couple channels and netflix clearly wasn’t gonna happen with the wifi.

I’ve always loved reading, but don’t get around to doing it as much as I’d like to. during my detox week not only did I read a whole book, I read The Goldfinch, which is almost 800 pages! (it’s a great book btw if you’ve never read it)

I also made time to study some French vocabulary I’ve been wanting to learn, which tends to fall by the wayside when I’m constantly checking email and other stuff. All in all, it was amazing to have time for self-care hobbies like this.

5. I Was Generally A Lot Happier

this one kind of hurts to admit, because if something makes you a lot happier wouldn’t you just do it all the time? while I don’t think detoxing from social media forever is the right thing for me, it really opened my eyes to how much the incessant scroll affects our happiness and general view of ourselves.

with no one else to compare my life to first thing in the morning, I just….lived my life. sure, I got a couple cool photos for the ‘gram on the boat, but for the most part my phone stayed in the room or in my bag. I wasn’t worried about writing good captions or adding to my story, and instead I was just living my story.

I think this was by far the biggest takeaway from my social media detox week. social media can be amazing and can connect and inspire us in ways we never thought possible, but it can also completely beat us down and make us feel like we’ll never be good enough, cool enough, pretty enough, well-traveled enough, or just enough in general. it’s EXHAUSTING.

after noticing what a difference it made in my life to take a break from the comparison game, I’m making it my goal to be way more intentional with how and where I spend my time on social media.

I’ll probably share another post soon once I’ve figured out what new guidelines I wanna create for myself based on this experience, because if I don’t set some boundaries I’ll probably just fall back into my same old habits.

have you ever taken a social media detox?? what was your biggest takeaway?