Observations of Four Weeks Off Facebook
I haven’t kicked the habit yet, but I will.
Almost a month ago, I signed a contract with myself to spend the next year away from social media. Mostly Facebook and Instagram. I haven’t been a big Twitter user in over a decade, and with the exception of Molang’s account, I’ve never been one for TikTok. YouTube is fine. I use it as part of my outlets. Long-form content is a strength of mine, but that’s for a different essay.
I swore off social media on February 23, 2024, and my time away from the platforms has been, once again, illuminating.
The first day — always a thrill.
The second day — always a letdown.
And I can’t even say I like
I missed seeing what my friends were up to. I missed the memes. I missed the hilarious posts. I missed the Harry Potter content and the astrological whatnot.
I felt very alone in the early days of this deal I made with myself. I felt antsy, scattered, angry, distracted (I know), and distant.
I didn’t know what to do with myself so I didn’t do anything.
I paced around my apartment and complained to my boyfriend that I hadn’t seen my friends in a while. He pointed out that we really hadn’t been around much, and when we were around, we were packing and moving. He also said that my friends understand that life gets busy sometimes, but that I’ll always go see them when I have the chance.
And he was right. Our life has been very full lately.
Social media let me have a crumb of my friends’ worlds. And that’s what I missed. The simple knowing of what they shared out there.
Now, of course, I can and did and do talk to my friends directly. But I hadn’t realized how much of a crutch I let my phone and Instagram become for social interaction. I can barely call it interaction as I’m not an active participant in most conversations or posts. I just used the DMs and shared like, one post a year.
I last took a break from social media almost four years ago. I was a month into it when I wrote about it previously. I was reading that essay just now, and this jumped out at me:
I do fear that I will fall back into my old ways because it’s so easy to slip. I’ve gone 30 days without using either platform, but usually after a week or so of curbed usage, I’m right back to where I was before. I’m hoping that this time because of the extended period (15 weeks instead of just over four), I won’t fall back into my old habits at all.
I didn’t fall back into my habits immediately, but over time I did.
I know my 52 weeks won’t solve my problems, but it will give me the space to attempt to solve them.
And that’s more than enough of a reason for me to stay the course.
PS — If you’re wondering about that contract I signed with myself, subscribe to my newsletter and receive a free template for your own endeavors.
