—My social media break: what did it do for me?

Written By : Annalisa Frumento

For the past month and a half, I was off of all social media, even facebook. The reason I did this was for lent, and I do it every year. It always feels so good to unplug a bit, but this year it felt different.

For the first week I felt like a prisoner to podcasts, truly I was tired of youtube and true crime stories. I was bored out of my mind, but this happens every year, I know I had to just get used to it. A reframe was much needed, and so that is exactly what I did. I started to remind  myself that I get to learn when I press play on a video essay on youtube, and just how much better that is than my addiction to short-form media. I found some great niche educators on youtube, and believe me when I tell you that I watched literally every single video of theirs. Let me put you on! My favorite channels have been Meredith Novaco, Ryan Greddie, and Today I Learned Science. I have never learned more in such a short period of time, and I am so proud of myself for not just scrolling youtube reels and giving into the definite addiction I had to social media. Along with this, I also read three books. I have never read that much in a month. I usually get about one every two months, which is very upsetting to me as a writer. I got three books in, and I am not even more motivated to read more now that I know I can fit it in. The phone is really such an issue that separates us from our personal hobbies. 

I can safely say that in the week that I’ve had social media back on my phone, I want it gone again. I had a “binge” so to speak as soon as I redownloaded, but I am realizing that I may just be too old for the doom scrolling now. The issue with this though, is that I definitely struggled with staying connected and in the know. The NYT is not going to report on the latest tiktok trend or celebrity cancellation, which can be argued as non issues of course. In the circles I run in and articles that I write, I have to keep up with the times, I cannot afford to fall behind too much. Also, who wants FOMO? 

The balance is hard, but it definitely exists and is what I am striving for now. Ways to do this can be with app time limits, mindful posting and self questioning. What I mean by this is to actively check in with yourself while scrolling, asking questions like “do I really care about this?”. There are ways to combat the problem of the scroll, and I think I finally cracked the code.