5 Things I Wish I Knew Before Deleting Social Media

Social media’s presence in our everyday lives has continued to grow over the years. After Covid-19 forced us to stay inside in 2020, it is estimated that the annual TikTok user growth rate in the United States was 85.3%, while the growth rate for Facebook was 8.7%. I was definitely a victim of this for a time. I would spend my day on my phone, searching for something to entertain me. After spending months of my life doing this, I realized that I was essentially accomplishing nothing. So, I did what almost everyone does for a time – I deleted my social media. 

After some setbacks and redownloads, I am finally at a place in my life where I do not need social media. This journey has lasted for 3 years, and I am confident in saying that I have learned so much about myself in this time. Deleting social media is not as glamorous as many portray it to be. With this being said, here are 5 things that I wish I knew before deleting social media. 

1. You Will Still Find Distractions

A common reason to delete your social media apps is to become less distracted. That is exactly why I originally deleted mine 3 years ago. In your mind, social media is the reason that you find yourself procrastinating. While social media undoubtedly aids in this procrastination, it leaves out an essential truth. You will still find distractions, even if you don’t have social media anymore. Procrastination existed before social media, and it has only been perpetuated by social media. While social media is a space in which many people distract themselves, there are many other distractions you must think about, including Tv series, Youtube, and online shopping. Whenever I deleted social media, I was expecting to immediately have my life together. Unfortunately, deleting social media is only part of the problem. The rest is simply self discipline.

     2. You Won’t Talk to as Many People

When you are on social media you are constantly aware of what everyone else is doing in their lives. Want to see what that one girl from high school is doing? Check her page. Want to stalk a couple of ex boyfriends? Have at it. The thing is, once you delete social media, you no longer have access to this information. While at first this may be bothersome, I promise you will eventually grow to not care. Truthfully, there is nothing better than staying in touch with the people who genuinely care about you. Instagram comments amount to nothing in comparison to the genuine relationships that you will continue to hold after deleting social media. 

    3. You Will Feel Like You Are Missing Out

Continuing from the last point, because you aren’t connected to as many people, you will feel like you are missing out at times. Sometimes it will seem as though everyone else is in a big group chat together where they can all keep each other updated and you aren’t in it. Even when it feels this way, it is important to remember why you deleted social media. Were you seeking genuine relationships with people? Were you hoping to mitigate the distractions in your life? Whatever the reason was, remind yourself of it often. As I previously mentioned, genuine relationships far outweigh the shallow ones that are sometimes created online. I promise that you don’t need to know what everyone is doing with their lives, you don’t need to know every single TikTok audio, and you most certainly don’t need to worry about losing friends. The people who truly matter and care about you will remain.

    4. You Will Make Excuses to Continue Using Social Media

Deleting social media is hard. If it was easy, you wouldn’t have thousands upon thousands of people documenting their experience with deleting it. Because social media is so prevalent in our society, you might find yourself making excuses in order to keep it. “Well, everyone else has it, so why can’t I,” you might say. Or, “I need to keep my social media so people can reach me in emergencies.” If you have found yourself trying to think of every little reason why you should reinstall or not delete your social media, you are not alone. Social media is designed to be addictive, and as humans, we innately want to do what the people around us are doing. This is where it all comes to self discipline. If you set a goal for yourself to delete social media, and you know that you want better for yourself – it will take work.

    5. It is Never Too Late to Start Over

I can’t tell you how many times I have reinstalled my social media. It’s ok, we are human and we all have setbacks. What is important to remember is that you can always start again. It’s ok if you messed up, just pick yourself back up and remind yourself of why you began in the first place. Nothing worth it will come easily. 

Deleting social media is something that I recommend for everyone to try, even if it is just for a short period of time. In the time that you are not looking at your phone, you might find new hobbies to try, relationships to nurture, or even give yourself the pleasure of being bored. In a world where our minds are constantly overstimulated, it is a privilege to be able to be bored. I encourage all of you to allow yourself this privilege, and above all I hope that you continue to “Wonder With Me.”

Citations