As a 17 year old, I seem to be one of the only people in my peer group to consciously spend my time when I’m online.
With the exception of Twitter for learning and connected with my mentors, I have made a decision to never use any other social media (instagram, snapchat, Tiktok).
I used to be a snapchat user when I was in middle school but when I entered high school, I cut out all of my non-essential phone use.
It seems like a very drastic decision out of nowhere, but it was something I thought through heavily.
Let me break down the top 5 reasons I do not use social media.
First, I am a strong believer in being in control of the content I am consuming on a daily basis as it quite literally shapes our brain and our thoughts.
If I am not in control of what my brain is consuming, then someone else will be and they will not have my best interests in mind.
Second, back when I used snapchat, I would mindlessly scroll and refresh the screen every few moments like it was the slot machine.
I was programming my mind to crave instant gratification and that’s very harmful for a life that is dependent on compound growth early on.
The actions you take in this moment will have much more weightage to the rest of your life than taking the action later on.
Third, it takes me out of the present.
I love my mind to be actively participating with my surroundings or at least be focused on the here and now.
When I would use social media, it would take me away from where I was at that moment so instead of speaking to the people around me, I would put my head down and scroll.
It’s unfortunate, I know.
Fourth, I believe strongly in the power of free time, free thought, and boredom.
The more bored we are, the more clear our thoughts become, and the higher probability of amazing creativity to come about.
When we have a mini computer with access to the world in our pockets all the time, it’s extremely difficult to allow ourselves to be bored on a daily basis for extended periods of time.
Most people actively try to run away from boredom at all costs.
I rather found it’s amazing to be bored, that’s when your mind is resting and you are able to think clearly about the things that matter most.
Fifth, when I was a user of social media, I convinced myself it was a necessary evil in order to stay connected to the world and friends around me.
Now, without social media, I’ve found that it was all a huge lie.
One, I’ve become way closer to the friends that I valued most, and I faded with the friends I didn’t.
That by itself has made me 10x more happy.
Next, staying connected with the world is toxic.
I was not made to constantly know all the 24/7 breaking news every moment of the day.
That corrupts my mind and I was unable to think about anything other than climate change or racial injustice.
Not that these things aren’t important, but it’s not healthy to constantly injest this type of information.
It just makes you a follower instead of a thought leader.
These are my main reasons for quitting social media and for why I will never get any of them again, even though there are many more such as the unrealistic expectations it puts on us to live “story-worthy” lives or how it constantly makes us compare ourselves to others.
Social media, when used right, can be a great tool for putting out content and getting heard but unfortunately, the way it’s built makes it have terrible wide-ranging negative impact on our lives.