What I Discovered When I Deleted My Social Media

By Katherine Gardner on May 25, 2016

(Pexels.com)

Social Media has come a long way since Myspace and Facebook first hit the seen in the early 2000’s. We have been blessed (cursed?) with the creation of Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, Tumblr, and Pinterest to spend our days constantly entertained by filters, tweets, cat videos, and cooking tutorials. These social media outlets have become our dearest friends in situations where we, ironically, don’t want to be very social. If a good conversation suddenly sputters out into an awkward silence have no fear for you can open up Facebook and cyber stalk the guy you met at White Trash Wednesday last week. I found myself relying on social media to fill every slightly awkward situation in my life, and after a while I started to wonder if this dependency I felt towards my phone was beginning to turn into a problem. Then I had a thought that all postmodernists find themselves thinking, “Am I missing out on opportunities to connect with real people by hiding behind my phone screen?” So, in order to figure out if I was in fact missing out on any organic socialization in my life, I decided to delete (ouch) all of the social media apps inhabiting my phone. This is what I discovered:

Selfies, pictures, and videos had taken over my life

(Pexels.com)

Prior to deleting Snapchat and Instagram I had unknowingly acquired a habit of taking an obscene amount of selfies, pictures, and videos. A daily selfie to check out the new Snapchat filters, fifteen minutes trying to face swap with the Starbucks logo on my triple grande cappuccino, a photo shoot at every social outing just to get that one perfect Instagram picture – you get the idea. As soon as all of the picture-oriented apps had been deleted, I realized just how much of my time had been wasted taking pictures instead of actually experiencing what was happening in my life. Of course I still take selfies and pictures when something is truly picture-worthy, but I no longer feel obliged to take a picture every waking moment of my life just for the sake of having a Snapchat story or an Instagram post.

Embracing awkward situations is how you grow as a person

The most important lesson I learned during my social media cleanse was the value of embracing awkward situations in order to become a stronger and more confident person because of them. Before this cleanse, I used my phone to escape from any situation I didn’t want to be apart of. Social media was a way to stay well within my comfort zone while still feeling somewhat connected to other people. After living without the cushion of social media for a few weeks I have pushed myself to speak to more people in my classes, I have become more comfortable in the presence of silence, and I feel significantly more confident in my conversational abilities.

Next time you find yourself mindlessly reaching for you phone during an uncomfortable silence, fight the urge to preoccupy yourself with apps and instead try to engage in conversation with someone who is near you. Who knows who could be standing right next to you?

Follow Uloop

Apply to Write for Uloop News

Join the Uloop News Team

Discuss This Article

Get Top Stories Delivered Weekly

Back to Top

Log In

Contact Us

Upload An Image

Please select an image to upload
Note: must be in .png, .gif or .jpg format
OR
Provide URL where image can be downloaded
Note: must be in .png, .gif or .jpg format

By clicking this button,
you agree to the terms of use

By clicking "Create Alert" I agree to the Uloop Terms of Use.

Image not available.

Add a Photo

Please select a photo to upload
Note: must be in .png, .gif or .jpg format