Social media provides some entertainment, but it consumes a lot of time, not to mention that it is full of contradictions. It can be fun, but it sometimes makes us angry.
Social media can relieve your feelings of loneliness, but it also raises feelings of isolation and inadequacy, and it causes something similar to addiction. If you spend a lot of time on social media, or on your phone in general, it may be difficult to imagine life without it.
However, there are plenty of reasons why you should consider taking a break from endless browsing.
Here are some things you can notice changing in your life when you step away from social media, even for a short time:
1- You will get more work done faster
When you stop worrying about notifications from your electronic devices left and right, you will definitely notice an improvement in your productivity levels, according to a report on the Reader’s Digest website.
“The thing about social media is that it constantly interrupts us,” says Joan Cantor, Ph.D., an expert in media and communications psychology. “When we check social media over and over again, we are actually practicing a form of multitasking, and multitasking makes everything you do take longer, and you also get to do it worse,” she adds.
In fact, the American Psychological Association estimates that trying to juggle multiple tasks at once — like clicking back and forth between Facebook and an important project — may reduce productive time by up to 40%, which is a high price to pay for a few likes. And comments.
2- It will increase the flow of creative ideas in your mind
If you find yourself stuck in a creative rut, it may have something to do with your social media habits. Dr. Cantor believes that taking breaks from time to time while working is the key to enjoying creative ideas. “Having social media in the background interferes with your creative activity,” says Cantor.
When you ditch social media completely, you rid yourself of those annoying notifications and allow your creative ideas to flourish.
3- You may feel anxious at first
While the effects of stopping social media are generally positive in the long term, the first effect you will notice is that you feel stressed and anxious, and these feelings are a result of nervous withdrawal from the feeling of constant connection.
“If you’re using social media in an addictive way, as some people do, it makes you have high levels of dopamine, so when you stop doing that, you’ll feel a little better,” says David Greenfield, an assistant professor of psychiatry at the University of California and founder of the Center for Internet and Technology Addiction. Withdrawal symptoms.
Fortunately, these feelings usually stop after a few days of quitting social media, so you’ll notice the benefits around the time you stop scrolling.
4- You will feel less stressed
As social media becomes easy to access anytime, anywhere, we often feel obligated to constantly stay in touch with what’s happening in the news feeds around us.
According to Dr. Greenfield, this sense of necessity of constant awareness of what is happening online leads to an increase in the secretion of cortisol, known as the stress hormone, and thus high levels of cortisol can cause a range of negative effects on the brain, such as poor memory and increased risk of depression.
However, staying away from social media will reduce your exposure to this rise in cortisol levels, helping you feel calm and focused.
5- You will feel more self-confident
People usually tend to share only happy and exciting moments on social media, because they want others to see them other than the bad things.
This may seem harmless, but when we only see others at their best, it becomes easy to feel like we are less than them. This behavior causes us to compare ourselves negatively to others, especially those we think are better than us. This is what psychologists call “upward social comparison.” .
For example, if you’re having difficulty conceiving, it’s not likely that someone will come up in real life and say, “Look how adorable my baby is!”, but on social media, this actually happens, because we post to a large following without knowing their circumstances.
A study showed that individuals who frequently use social media experience higher levels of social comparison, which is associated with increased symptoms of depression, so staying away from these online platforms can help reduce these social comparisons, leaving you feeling happier and more confident.
6- You will get more sleep
You often start browsing social media before bed, and suddenly find yourself spending much more time after your usual bedtime than you planned.
Dr. Greenfield points out that this habit has become common for many at night, as they spend an hour or two browsing social media in bed.
“Think about it, if you’re doing this every day, that means you’re only spending 15 hours a week on social media,” he says. So by ditching social media, you’re freeing yourself from those extra obligations and getting a healthy dose of good sleep.
7- It will strengthen your real-life relationships
There’s no doubt that social media is a great way to stay in touch with old friends or distant family, but staying away from the internet can greatly enhance your real-life friendships.
Personal relationships that occur face-to-face are often stronger than those that occur solely online, and by taking a break from your social media accounts, you will be able to direct your attention toward real interactions in your daily life.
Dr. Cantor says, “Staying away from social media and spending more time in face-to-face interactions contributes greatly to improving your social relationships, and relationships are one of the most important factors influencing well-being and mental health.”
8- You will need to sit less
Scientists say that sitting all day can be as dangerous to your health as smoking. After a long day at work, we are increasingly using our free time to browse social media while sitting.
Staying away from social media frees up your time to do healthy activities. Just be careful not to replace browsing social media with video games or watching TV.
9- You will get angry less
It’s easier to write a scathing comment while hiding behind a screen than it is to insult someone face-to-face. But when you stop using social media, you get away from these pointless battles and become less emotional.
“So you don’t have to carry around feelings of anger all day because of what someone else posted,” says Dr. Kersting.
10- You will develop more emotional intelligence
Getting rid of social media may not only make you a nicer person, but it may also help you develop your emotional intelligence, which is a valuable skill in our relationships with family and friends and at work as well, but it is a skill that requires you to interact more with people.
“When we sit in front of a computer screen for long hours every day, we reduce the possibility of face-to-face interaction with others, and we also reduce our emotional intelligence,” says Tom Kersting, a psychotherapist.
Taking your head off the screen and having real conversations can increase the quality of your relationships, and help you develop this important skill.