In this article, I would like to talk about our favourite topic minimalist life hack.
In many ways, I always try to do a digital detox, and I have realised that social media detox would be important for people living in the 21st century.
The reason to stay away from social media
For me, the reason to stay away from social media is to appreciate the real connection with the people.
According to Search Logistics, "Over 210 million people worldwide suffer from social media addiction."
I also need to quote one more sentence from Foothillsatredoak stating "If they’re forced to put their phones away, they may begin to experience cravings. Often, this takes on the form of FOMO, which stands for fear of missing out. People with a social media addiction can feel as though important things are happening on the platform that they’re going to miss out on if they’re not online."
Knowing the definition and the severity of social media addiction, we want to think about the possibility of ourselves being social media addicted without even knowing about it.
I personally prefer to meet people face-to-face and have a conversation about the trip that they have made rather than knowing that experience through the timelines.
When I actually stopped checking the timeline of social media, this is my definition of complete social media detox by the way, I felt that I had more time in the real world.
What you can do instead of checking timelines
I often go to the coffee shop to meet the people
that I can talk about coffee enthusiasm.
To feel how fast time flies when you check social media, I would like you to do this very simple activity.
- Set the alarm for 10 minutes. Check the timeline for the entire 10 minutes.
- Set the alarm for 10 minutes. Leave the smartphone and do nothing or close your eyes and try deep inhaling and exhaling.
After this activity, you will notice that you have spent 10 minutes for both activities but how you feel that 10 minutes is totally different.
If you are used to checking the timeline then this activity will make you realise that how many hours and days you have lost by checking the timelines in your life.
I stated "You lost the time" because what do you get and learn from checking a social media timeline unless it is language content or some other learning content???
If you do this activity and realise the time you spent on social media, you may want to stop even thinking about the timelines.
In a previous article, I talked about ways to stay away from social media and do something instead.
Also Read: How do I stay away from social media?
- Find a new non-digital hobby
- Meet people
- Delete the app from your phone
In addition to the three activities that I have mentioned in the previous article, learning languages with your language partner will be something much more valuable.
I live in Sweden now and I have one Swedish language partner.
I meet with that person quite often to learn Swedish and also to teach Japanese to that person; I am Japanese by the way.
Or meeting up with a friend and cooking some traditional food will be also interesting.
I have many friends from many countries here in Sweden, so we sometimes gather up and cook food from each individual's country.
The more you do have a digital detox and social media detox the more you feel the real world is much more fun than sitting on the chair and looking at the small device alone in your tiny room.
Life is amazing with the real connection with real people.