It’s been a month since I deleted the Facebook and Twitter apps off my devices, and I wanted to share the results of this experiment with you so far.

After a couple of weeks of my experiment, I deleted my Twitter account completely and I truly wasn’t sorry to say Goodbye. I was starting to notice that I had way more time and head space when I wasn’t checking in on the latest news reels and opinions, and far less stress. I also noticed I didn’t feel as reactive anymore - living in a state of outrage and fear created by reading other people’s opinions or news items is not a healthy way to be - removing Twitter and Facebook has removed this feeling completely and life feels much calmer already.

I’m still using Facebook Business Suite to share posts with my community on there, but I discovered that I cannot physically delete the social side of the app - or I would in an instant! The two are seemingly indelibly tied, a huge faux pas in my opinion, and I’m still not sure why you can’t have one without the other.

This morning I’ve deleted the Instagram app off my phone too, along with lots of other useless apps so its pretty much just a phone now, with a camera.

The upside of removing these apps, and seriously limiting my time on the ones I’ve kept, is that I’m discovering time and space for other things. It’s almost a revelation that life goes on beyond the walls of social media, and it’s far more enriching and rewarding. I am becoming more aware of what’s going on around me, I’m having better conversations, and keeping my phone out of sight with notifications switched off means I can be fully present when I’m with other people and focus on what they’re saying, rather than having that knee jerk reaction of responding to every ping and beep.

I have kept some apps on my I-pad, like Instagram and Pinterest, but again they are on time restrictions of thirty minutes a day, and I’m trying my best to stick to this. I still use Instagram for my business, but by having it solely on my pad means I can curate better, and more thoughtful content, and the time restriction means I can still respond to comments, and be inspired by fellow artists without being sucked into a time eating void.

Some of the things I’ve been doing instead of spending time looking at my phone:

More walks in nature on my own or with my friends.
Reading more actual books
Reading blogs
Time to think
Being bored - my goodness, I think I’d forgotten how to stand in a supermarket queue without looking at a screen! Boredom is a revelation!!!
I’m no longer that bothered about creating constant content several times every single damn day, which was tiring, depleting and hard work. I now have time and space to think about what I really want to share, how, and when.
Watching films and box sets - currently working our way through Car Share and Father Ted, and laughing uproariously instead of sitting on the couch scrolling mindlessly through Instagram and Facebook.
Noticing my concentration is improving - it’s a scientifically proven fact that social media can reduce concentration levels, and cause stress and anxiety amongst many other detrimental things. It makes you wonder what the actual point of it is, doesn’t it?
Connecting with friends more regularly, instead of pinging them the odd sentence on a Facebook post.
Feeling peaceful - I don’t have those awful moments of feeling like my life is crap compared to the embellished and pimped up photos all over social media. Goodbye comparison-itis! And instant outrage or stomach dropping anxiety as a reaction to a post or news item is a thing of the past too - hurrah!!

I’ve also made a screen saver for my phone, (using the image at the top of this post), it was an idea I took from the book I’ve been working through ‘How to break up with your phone’ by Catherine Price. The thinking behind this is to make you stop and consider why you’re picking your phone up - it works.

So far, I’m enjoying living without some of my social apps, and only allowing myself brief windows of time on others. I don’t have FOMO and I’m still in touch with friends on messenger, so I know that we can get hold of each other that way, or by phone and text. As for news and things like that, the important stuff tends to filter through so all in all I’m happy with how things are going.

Is a social media, or digital detox something you might consider? Let me know in the comments if it’s something you’re doing or thinking of doing.

How life is going without social media - one month on