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Benefits of Social Media Detox

Good Afternoon, Everyone!

The sun is shining so much and it's an absolutely gorgeous day. I hope you are all doing wonderfully. During December 2019 and January 2020, I went off Instagram. I deleted the app and posted occasionally using the website. In today's post, I will be discussing the observations I made during the detox.

1) Vanity is not everything. Vanity is only surface level. It's not tangible or consistent. It's fleeting. Vanity comes in many forms on social media: clothes, body, hair, house, car and so on. Looks are not everything. What's far more important is who you are. Are you kind or courageous? Are you brave? These are far more important than what you look like.

2) Likes and followers have no value. Likes and follower count has absolutely no significance to my life and my ambitions. Sure, for an Instagram influencer that will be a different story but my ambitions do not have the term 'be popular on Instagram'. I think it's unfair on us to have any consideration towards likes and follower count because it's an honest waste of time unless you are actually looking to create a side/main career out of it.

3) My body is fine the way it is. I was very self-conscious about my body. Instagram became this cycle of cruel self-comparison. The minute I deleted Instagram, the self-comparison stopped. Instead of looking at what I wasn't, I started concentrating on what I was.

4) Time! Getting of Instagram frees up so much time that you didn't even know you had.

5) Liking someone's picture or viewing someone's story on Instagram is not the same as speaking to them. Calling someone or seeing someone in person is not the same as viewing someone's story. I realised that I was taking more initiative with my friends and family to connect and know how they were. This improved my relationships with people overall.

6) There is no such thing as 'Instagram worthy'. Being off Instagram illustrated how stuck I was in posting 'perfect' pictures with perfect captions. I stopped enjoying myself because it all became an opportunity for a photoshoot instead of a memory. I started taking pictures of everything and anything that encompassed a memory or joy instead of 'perfect' things.

7) Instagram, like Netflix, is an entertainment mechanism. Instagram was another way to consume information or entertainment. Therefore, I had to think about the content I was mindlessly consuming. I muted accounts that were not enriching my life or bringing me joy to curate the content that I was going to be seeing on my feed.

I think everyone should go on a social media detox because it really benefits your mental well being. At least be mindful of the people you are following to make sure you are not letting yourself subconsciously fall into an unhealthy mindset. Please take care of yourself and stay at home! I will see you in my next post!



Sincerely Sinthu

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