My Social Media Detox Experiment — An Analysis

Photo by Prateek Katyal on Unsplash

Introduction

I decided to quit most social media for an undefined time in the middle of October 2020. Several factors lead me to this decision though more on that in the next section. To summarize: I wanted to see if and what kind of an impact it would have on me. I reactivated parts of it after 90 days in January 2021.

As part of this detox, I want to share my journey and thoughts. Over the next few sections I will get into my motivation, what were the parameters of this experiment, and lastly, where do I stand now regarding social media usage.

What were these factors?

I realized that I was spending a lot of time scrolling through my feeds mindlessly without gaining much value from it. At the time I was also following several pages and accounts that would (re)post the same content — meaning I would see the same post multiple times over a span of a few days.

Most parts of the world were in a lockdown, most of the time was spent inside and the year as a whole felt like it was just dragging on and on. Seeing my feed filled with talented people showing off their newly learned skills or them spending their days in ways you could only day-dream of did not help at all.

I started comparing myself to their lives, without actually knowing what it was like being in their shoes. A feeling many people can relate to I assume as can also be seen in the video below.

Though, his approach and method were a lot more radical than mine. I did not want to cut off from friends or family completely — just reevaluate what value social media gives me and how I want to use it.

All of this lead me to deactivate my most used social media accounts and uninstall their apps from my phone. I went cold turkey for most of them.

Where did I start?

Before getting into what accounts I deactivated and what I kept using, I would like to showcase which social media platforms I used and for what purpose. Obviously, the usage of these applications varied over the years. Being a technical person with a curious mind, I tried to be an early adopter for each of these platforms (at least as early as they became available to me). Just because I rarely used them last year does not mean I never was an avid user nor does it imply that I do not find them useful in general.

Here is a quick summary of my accounts and usage:

• Instagram: Mostly used to see what friends and family all over the world were up to. I did follow some public figures as well as pages that posted memes or other entertaining content. I usually scrolled through the feed and looked at stories but never explored the other features such as reels and live streaming. I was an active user yet posted content infrequently.
• Facebook / Messenger: Facebook was rarely used in general. At the time of deciding to remove my account, I mostly was interested in a few pages which I would check every few days. The feed was filling up with more and more irrelevant content and became less interesting over time. Probably due to not using Facebook enough to let it know what was relevant to me. I used to use messenger a lot in the past. However, the last message I sent or received was months ago. As a side note: During the deactivation process I learned that one can use Facebook Messenger without an active Facebook account!
• Reddit: Used to be the most used app on the list by far. There is just so much content to consume and the infinite scroll makes it so easy to lose track of time! Before deleting the app, I even created an account to curate more relevant posts on my home screen. It did help but having the generic front page a click away was too easy to ignore when the personalized content became stale or uninteresting.
• Snapchat: Downloaded as this fun hype app to share snapshots and random pictures without having to save them. This app was unique in the sense that there were less than a dozen friends and on it and we only used it to send pictures that were not worth storing. The benefits outweighed the space it took up on the phone. Though the games and streaks, that come with them, are the biggest reason it is still installed.
• Twitter: Despite joining Twitter in 2009 it was the least used app of all. In my experience, Switzerland, in general, was not a big Twitter country for a while. People and companies are catching up though. I did follow some interesting pages, topics, and a handful of close friends who rarely tweeted as well. It was collecting virtual dust on my home screen.
• Quora: Another service I wanted to try out and got really into when it came out. Over time my usage faded and the app rarely got opened — despite getting weekly digest emails in two languages.
• LinkedIn: The “professional” one. I used it on and off to see what people were up to or look up new people I had met. Being in the early stages of my career I felt like it was too valuable to give up now and I could see its purpose in the long-run. Once again, this was more of a passive social network where I rarely contributed.
• WhatsApp & YouTube: These services could be considered social media platforms as well. For this experiment, I did not. WhatsApp was clearly for communicating with friends and not at all about the stories for me. YouTube for me is a streaming platform with a community aspect.

What did I get rid of?

While I could have gotten rid of everything, I only really cared about a select few. Also, I was curious if my browsing habits would change if I did not have my primary social media platforms. So what exactly does that mean?

I deactivated the following accounts and deleted their corresponding applications:

• Facebook + Messenger
• Instagram
• Reddit

Together they made up at least 90% of my social media usage.

Snapchat and LinkedIn had very niche use cases that did not bother me much. Furthermore, I did not check them often nor did they make me feel inadequate.

Twitter and Quora were my control group. I wanted to know if I started using either of them more frequently in the absence of the other applications. If so, in what way and how often.

January 2021

January 2021 comes around. A little over 3 months have passed since I deactivated my major social media accounts. Let us go over the usage of the remaining social media applications during the past months and note down some thoughts:

• Snapchat: Usage did not increase at all. Probably decreased slightly due to it almost exclusively being used to play games against friends. Candidate for eventual deletion or deactivation due to lack of usage.
• LinkedIn: Usage remained constant. Due to the less personal nature and limited activity on the feed, it remained interesting to make connections and maintain them but on a personal level, it did not have an impact.
• Twitter: The first application of the control group where usage increased. While the increase was not significant in absolute terms — I spent at most 1.5 hours a week on the app — the relative increase to before is huge. Being mindful of the experiment, I decided to only follow motivational and inspiring people and pages as well as news sources to keep up with everything happening around the world. This disconnect between the posts I saw and my personal life only kept me on the app for a few minutes a day. Nonetheless, my usage has not decreased since the experiment (nor has it increased).
• Quora: Still collecting virtual dust. I read articles every now and then but no significant increase to be noted. Another candidate for deletion.

Clearly, there was a slight itch to be scratched in the absence of my social media platforms. Twitter was there and fulfilled its duties and I appreciate it more having learned how to use it effectively.

What did I miss?

Despite “quitting” cold-turkey I never missed the applications themselves rather than the service they provided. What I did miss is seeing the highlights of friends and family whom I did not speak to regularly. Despite everyone’s best effort to keep me up to date on what was happening in their life or what they had just done last weekend, things fell through the cracks. I decided to leave these platforms and this was a foreseeable consequence. I simply did not think it would affect me as much as it did.

I could feel becoming more and more disconnected from the people I cared about. No amount of catch-up calls and texting could ensure that all the amazing stories were told — from either side. Pictures make you remember and sharing those moments afterward ensures that they stay with everyone. So even if the person sharing memories forgets about them temporarily, the person who viewed it can bring it up in the next conversation and ask about it.

Maybe this was another side effect of being locked in at home most of the time and barely seeing any friends in the real world. There is a possibility that this enhanced the feeling of being disconnected from everyone.

This was something I had not thought about before going dark on these applications. I am sure some might think, if you can’t remember it, then it must not be that important. Or that it is not necessary to know what is going in the lives of the people you care about. Or that there is always a way of making time and sharing special memories.

I know where these statements come from and accept that I might be an overly curious person and thoroughly enjoy knowing what is happening in the lives of the people close to me. In the end, it all comes down to personal preferences — either you want to know or do not. I do.

What did I do?

After considering the implications and figuring out where my priorities were I decided to re-instate my Instagram account. Facebook I still do not care for much but I was also a very light user before deactivating the account. Though I would not yet completely delete my account just yet as it does offer interesting and useful services like the Marketplace. The same goes for Reddit. Though I was a heavy user when I had it, it was mostly to keep used as a filler — an app I could go to at any time I was bored or thought I was bored.

This time I knew why I reinstalled the application and reactivated my account: To keep in touch with people and share memories with them. I had no intentions of comparing myself to anyone else’s life. Actively changing my perspective about these posts helped me from falling into the same old patterns again.

It was a fun experiment and definitely made me more conscious about how I use these apps and how I let them influence me.

How did my behavior change towards social media?

As mentioned, I do not want to vilify these platforms. They serve a purpose and the question is how you let them influence you. Obviously, these companies have their goals but how you react to their algorithms and how you use them is up to you.

Here are some of the changes I have implemented for myself:

1. Never compare but rather appreciate that people are taking the time to share their life experiences with you. They do not have to but do so because the photo or video clearly was a memory they cherished and made them feel something. Oftentimes people try to share emotions through their posts and you can either envy them or be happy for them. Be happy for yourself too that you have people willing to share their lives with you!
2. Mute the pages that keep reposting the same content or try to sell you things. Some profiles I follow are private. I follow them just so I can view posts sent to me by friends. I do not need to see the rest of the posts they make. This already cleared up my feed by a lot and let the people I know shine.
3. Keep the applications far away from your home screen. Instagram used to be on my home screen — two clicks away after unlocking from my phone. Opening the app was often done blindly purely through muscle memory. Banishing it to the end of my application list was simply the result of reinstalling the application. However, I did not pull it back to the front. This meant that every time I open the app, it is a deliberate action. After all, I have to unlock my screen and swipe through four screens to reach it. That gives me ample time to reevaluate if I really want to open it because I want to consume the content or if I am doing it out of boredom. If I catch myself in the latter situation I usually manage to refrain from opening it.
4. Remove notifications. While I reduced the number of push notifications significantly by changing certain settings — I still get notified every once in a while. Luckily they’re so few and far between that it does not bother me currently. Ideally, I would want to have no notifications at all. Striving towards a pull model rather than a push model.

I do not actively plan on using the application more or less but rather use it to share new experiences and tell my story. After all, it is one of the easiest ways to stay in touch with everyone. Hopefully, people will realize that I too am simply trying to share positive feelings and emotions through my posts in the hopes that it will make their days better and maybe even lead to people reaching out and reconnecting through messages and calls.

Going Forward

This journey has been very interesting. I am very glad I did it and it gave me a lot to think about. Do I think everyone should try this at least once? Not really. But if you do, feel free to reach out!

I think simply being mindful of the usage of these tools is good enough. As I mentioned, I can see myself reactivating Facebook and Reddit — though maybe be more goal-driven. Use the applications for specific reasons and maybe not as a filler for boredom.

Most importantly, appreciate the content but do not compare yourself to others. Be and do things that make you happy!