It’s important to take a break from mindless daily routines. All too often, teens wake up in the morning, get on the internet and immediately ruin their perspective of the day with a bad feeling resorting from whatever post popped up first. For two consecutive weeks, three Wingspan staff members stayed off of all social media to see how well they could control their desires and what effects the hiatus would have. From using it every day to not using it at all, each participant had different experiences and an altered mindset.
Subject Number 1: Addison Eden, Letting go of the addiction-
Social media has never been too big of a problem for me. However, once I started high school I noticed that I also tended to be consumed by online trends. I gave myself a two-hour time limit across my social media and that has been in place up until this two-week period without games or social media. Beginning my first week, I was super anxious about missing updates and being left out. That never really went away throughout my weeks, but the longer I was offline the easier I found it to ignore; though it could be due to the fact that I was anticipating the last day.
Multiple times throughout my full two weeks, I found myself accidentally opening my social media apps because of the muscle memory that I had formed from scrolling almost every day. It was so difficult to open my phone and not go online that it required many conscious efforts to avoid it. My inactivity caused my notification center to become flooded as well, making it grueling to ignore. The thing that made no social media harder for me was that we were not allowed online games either. Playing online games served as a solution to my boredom a lot of times rather than scrolling which made it tougher to give up than my social medias, although comparatively giving up my social connections took a larger toll on my state of mind. I did notice though that I have had a lower tendency to pick my phone back up to scroll after leaving this challenge behind, however.
I might do this challenge again if left to my own judgment, but I would only give all of it up if I had someone doing it with me. I ended up not being able to communicate things when I needed to since some people use only online platforms. Overall I believe that social media is an addiction and this challenge was definitely easier said than done because of that. Even if the idea doesn’t seem enticing I encourage people to try it. Get away from the screen, smell the air, go on a walk or quit socials with friends and find things to do locally. There’s more to the world than just edited content posted on a timeline.
Subject Number 2: Laurel Latimer, FOMO
For the past three years, I have been online every day due to my fear of missing out. I have realized how in need I was of a detox. I put off the idea of throwing all my socials away simply because I had no motivation to stop and think for myself for once. When I got the opportunity to finally be free for two weeks of the chains I put on myself, I took it and ran. The first thing I realized about not having the apps I used the most is how much time I spent asking myself “What do I do now?”
If I wasn’t waiting for a text back from someone, I was either cleaning or watching YouTube. However, being offline made my screen time go down a significant amount. Eliminating the biggest portion of the reason I use my phone, I was able to cut the time by more than half. I was pleased with this outcome.
I felt an instant change in my stress levels. When I would unintentionally click on an app and it would block me out, I felt relieved. Before I did this experiment I felt obligated to be chronically online. This experiment mended my relationships and made them stronger. I was efficiently able to communicate in a manner not putting myself or others down.
When the time was up, going back to my old ways felt revolting. I noticed things about social media that made me feel gross. With the amount I depended on the media before, it feels nice to have a mindset that is more accepting of not knowing everything. A reset such as this allowed me to take a step back and appreciate my own life rather than worrying about other people’s artificial way of living.
Subject Number 3:Kadence Darrah, Return to quality time
I have always been someone who has strongly disliked the addiction that came with being online. If you know me personally, you can probably recall several times when I angrily rant about the harmful effects of the internet, which is why I was ecstatic to participate in this experiment. Despite feeling strongly about the topic, even I have to admit that I fall victim to mindless scrolling quite often. It has long been a goal of mine to completely cut off all of my social media ties, but I never really had anything that forced me to do that. This experiment gave me the extra push that I needed and the after-effects were eye-opening.
My two-week hiatus took place over the time we were out of school for winter break. The first few days were a bit rough. I feel as though teens now resort so quickly to opening social media when there is a moment of free time and that is what I struggled with the most. The first three days, I noticed that when I would absentmindedly open my phone, my finger would immediately click on Snapchat. I had never realized how much of a muscle memory constantly opening the app caused, but this action happened many times over the course of the first three days.
I noticed many other things throughout my break. I realized that I got so much more done than I usually do when I can scroll mindlessly through the apps. Alongside, my screen time went from around five hours a day to approximately 28 minutes a day. My younger brothers claimed that I was “less grumpy” and that I spent more time with them. The last thing that I noticed really put things into perspective for me. While I had the apps closed off, Snapchat was constantly blowing up my phone. Every twenty minutes I would get a notification that there was a memory, or that I hadn’t been on in a while to check my messages. This made me realize that the internet is constantly trying to pull you back into the loop and it sickened me.
After my break was over, I realized that I didn’t even really want to be on my phone anymore. The amount of time I used to spend on socials disgusted me and it made me realize how much time I have wasted by being online. I highly suggest that everyone take a break from the internet and see how it affects you. It can be a real game changer.
