Why I Prefer A Daily Social Media Detox

Ah, the social media detox. A time where you feel that a step away from social media is the solution when your mental health doesn't feel right. 

As a blogger, I'm pretty much on social media for a huge part of the day. For example, in the morning when I wake up, I grab my phone and scroll through Twitter and Instagram like I'm reading a newspaper, check my emails and delete the crappy ones and maybe post an Instagram story welcoming the day. If I have the time to, I'll promote my latest blog post and promote it all over my social media channels. That's the first 20 minutes of my morning most days. Then I'm rushing around like a tit in a trance trying to get ready for work and getting my meds done. It's a sight to see, believe me. 

Then at night, I scroll through social media before going to bed just to make sure I've caught up with everything before I allow my head to hit the pillow. Reading these last two paragraphs back, it doesn't sound healthy at all. I wouldn't say I have a major problem, but maybe it's a problem that is starting to ripple under the surface. 

Social media detoxes, for me, should be taken, however long or short. 

When it comes to taking a social media detox, we all have different preferences and feelings on how long we as individual's feel is the right amount of time to spend away from our social media accounts.

From my personal perspective, I like to take a little break from social media on a more frequent basis - every day. 

Usually, I find the mornings are when I am at my most active online. Whether it be updating statuses, tweeting something or posting a new photo, that's when I kind of get my social media fix. After that, I find that my interest in scrolling through my phone in the afternoons into the evenings kind of wanes. This is where I take the advantage of leaving my phone alone and focusing on other things. It's amazing how effective the method of 'leaving your phone the other side of the room' is. Literally, if my phone is somewhere other than beside me, I'm more than likely to not want to invest time scrolling. 

My biggest chunk of my social media detox in a 24 hour day is the evening when my phone is charging. I aim to not charge my phone until about 8pm and I charge my phone, again on the other side of the room and I just don't touch it until I know it's fully charged. That's my break from the social media world. I barely use social media on my laptop in the evening either. I use the time to blog and catch up on emails. I watch TV, I read, I talk to people face to face rather than face to phone.

It doesn't take much effort to give yourself a break from social media. It is well needed by all sometimes. Put your phone away when you've got company, put your phone away before going to bed (something I am trying to do more often now), put your phone away while working, don't grab your phone at any little chance you get, use the time to do something different and something you know that needs to be done eg housework etc.

I prefer taking social media detoxes this way rather than take a long term one. I think taking daily detoxes works better for me and my wellbeing. This method has always worked in my favour, until it doesn't I'll continue to take my social media detoxes this way. 

What are your thoughts on social media detoxes?

*The notebook featured in these photos was a previous PR sample from Old English Company.