a year off social media experiment // a year later

"as a 23rd birthday gift for myself, I am deciding to have a year off social media."

here i am. a year older. another 12 months of growing, learning and stumbling through life.

if i were someone else, i'd be curious to hear what experiences someone would have after being off social media for a year. to be perfectly honest, there are days where i wonder why it's even necessary to share my experience. can't i just experience it, and not feel like i have to share what i've learnt?

alas, my ego is still very much present. and it's saying that there is something important here for me to share. whether or not there actually is, and whether it is important, who the heck knows.

Last Year’s Birthday (23rd):

• Clarify ‘why’

• Set intentions and boundaries

• Where am I at with social media and tech use at the moment

• Log out and delete apps or saved passwords

• Send out messages to relevant folks

If you would like to read last year's blog post, click here.

This Year’s Birthday (24th):

• Reflection: where am I at?

• Is it still relevant?

• Set intentions and boundaries if I am to go back on social media

Where am I at?

There was a lot of conflict these last 12 months, on whether or not I'll be going back on, or if I will delete my accounts permanently. Or something else in between. My birthday felt like a looming date where I needed to have decided what I was going to do. I realised last night that all today means is that I have been practicing not using social media for 12 months. That's it. Simple. Nothing more to it.

I am still conflicted. I feel like I received some answers during the experiment, but there's a lot that is still unanswered, or I only have certain pieces of the puzzle.

At this point, I'm deciding I will be going back on, for however long it feels fruitful. I'm not excited about going back on social media, but I don't dread it either. That's something I guess. During these last 12 months, there'd be times where I would jump from one to the other. These days, there's a lot of ambiguity around it. I wonder if I continued being off social media, say for another year, would the yearning eventually dissipate?

I still take images and videos, and have ideas for what content I'd like to share, but those thoughts are no longer front and centre, although I could feel arising once again as the 1 year mark came closer.

At this stage, I'm still reflecting on the experiment, so I don't have a lot to share. I feel like it's one of those events in life where it just continues to offer as time goes on. I'm sure I'll continue looking at my questions and receiving insights in the months to come.

Is it still relevant?

I wish I elaborated more on this question when I wrote it last year... Because I'm not entirely sure whether I meant relevant to my personal journey, or do I feel like social media is still relevant in society. I'm guessing the former.

Having been off social media for a year, the urgency, or perhaps social media's importance in my life, has decreased immensely. I thought about social media a lot, but felt mostly okay with not using it. I say 'mostly' because there'd be times when I would loose sight of the purpose of the experiment. I'm grateful I continued practicing staying with my decision of being off it for a year.

"Will ‘missing out’ on what’s going on in the world through these platforms/other people’s lives actually hinder my own experience?"

This is a question I asked myself in last year's blog post.

The answer is: no. I found that I was able to practice bringing more presence into my life, into the people who are around me physically. Into the activities I have chosen to engage in.

I still struggled with the yearning to see what people are up to, and what is going on in the social media world, but after a while I began to care less about other's lives and actually started paying more attention to my own.

Paying attention to my thoughts, my patterns, my tendencies, my coping mechanisms. Becoming more aware of the inner critic, the judgemental mind, the logistical mind.

None of it was easy, but I found it wasn't that difficult either.

Intentions and Boundaries while being on social media

I have nothing concrete here, I feel like my intentions and boundaries will shift as I continue to explore how social media relates to my life.

For now, practicing bringing presence in my actions is a huge one. For example, before I pick up my phone or open my laptop, just taking a moment to set an intention for why I'm about to use it.

Practicing slowing down and having pauses while I'm using the platforms, or while being on screens. Taking a deep breath here, reflect on what I'm about to publish there.

I hope to practice to consume less, or consume mindfully. To pay attention to the reasons why I'm scrolling on Facebook, or binge watching YouTube videos, or getting lost in the black hole of Instagram. I hope to not make these common occurrences in my life, but I recognise these can still happen even after being off social media for a year.

Continuing to observe what is going on when it comes to using social media platforms, or engaging with other users is another big one. What can I learn as I continue on this journey? What opportunities can I take? What can I let go of? What areas can I grow in?

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Basically, the story continues.

I've experimented with being off social media for a year, but let's see what arises next, and what that experience continues to offer in this journey.

Peace and Love