Being part of the 21st century and the growing of social media platforms we often tend to get caught up in the world of likes, shares and comments. It can take up so much of one’s time that we often forget there is a life beyond the screen.
Life beyond our screen is something that many have considered since the rise of social media. This is called, communication avoidance or media refusal. These are individuals who make the decision to ‘quit’ social media. Some choose to quit a specific application, whilst others choose to get rid of all forms of social media. After watching The Social Dilemma on Netflix, a couple of months ago, I can’t say this didn’t cross my mind. This show opened my eyes so wide that I seriously reconsidered my whole online presence. I ended up quitting social media for a week – which isn’t a long time, but for someone who uses it every day it was a minor ‘challenge’ for me to take on – and I ended up having a week of such ease and grounding. I was able to open my mind and be more creative with my spare time which I would usually just be on my phone or using social media. In this time, I journaled, read, went on walks, meditated, made extra time for the gym and so much more. I genuinely just had more ‘me time’.
A blog written by Rohit Kumar Neralla, posted on Noteworthy – The Journal Blog speaks of his experience of quitting social media ‘cold turkey’. He decided to delete and deactivate the four major giants, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and Twitter. The first thing he noticed when deleting these was the large amounts of ‘friends’ he was going to never hear or think of again. He had all these friends or followers on his social media that were so irrelevant in his life, and none of them would even notice he left social media. Neralla goes on to speak about the first 4-6 months and how hard they were for him. He suddenly had so much spare time on his hands and he decided to fill it with YouTube and Netflix … which I guess defeats the whole purpose of why he made this decision. He states that within this 4–6-month period, he deleted and redownloaded YouTube and Netflix so often as he kept wanting to quit them too, but then didn’t know how else to fill his time. Then he had, what he likes to call it his epiphany.
This epiphany ignited something within, which is when he began to reap the benefits of quitting social media. He found his passion, mindfulness, and began writing, journaling and becoming a better version of himself. He started to well and truly know and learn more about himself than ever before.
Significance
This blog sparked something in me about my research, I want to find out the affects quitting social media has on an individual. I know that these affects will be different for everyone, taking into consideration their job or what their role is in society. Some individuals genuinely need social media for their livelihood, however, there are a large group of us that really don’t need it at all, we just think we do.
This is why I think this research question of ‘what are the effects of quitting social media?’ is so significant. This question is worth investigating as it not only effects an individual who is thinking of quitting social media, but it also effects the social media giants. If someone who is quite well known decides to deactivate his or her account – a vast majority of users may follow which then effects that media application. This could cause people who work in media to lose jobs, lose track of their insights or even slow down on trends. Therefore, I think this research question matters to any individual who has a social media account and the owners of the media platforms. If these owners can understand the benefits and negative impacts of deactivating social media, they can change their application to ensure users don’t make this decision.
Background Research
SCL Health wrote an article on the pros and cons of quitting social media. Some of the reasons why they think quitting social media will benefit an individual are happiness and mood booster, improved self-esteem and better sleep. These have all been proven by research however on the other end of the spectrum there are also reasons not to quit social media, according to SCL Health. These include, not missing out on potential events, the internet can be good for certain aspects of life and expanding your networks. Overall, although this article highlights both the pros and cons, without even reading further into it, I feel as though majority of individuals will lean towards the pros in this case.
A Conscious Rethink’s article ‘If you quit social media, you’ll notice these 6 big benefits’ studies shows more benefits that people should seriously consider if they are thinking about quitting social media. These include, no longer comparing yourself negatively to others, feeling less lonely and down, no longer potentially damaging hate speech, feeling less overwhelmed and more empowered, not judging others for what they post, and toxic people may leave your life. This study really digs into the depth of social media and how it affects users’ everyday life. We often forget how much we are comparing or judging others just simply based off a post and by quitting social media you are diminishing this happening in your life.
Overall, this semester I am really looking forward to digging deeper into the effects media refusal or quitting social media has on one’s life. Who knows, we may learn so much more about ourselves then we realise.
Until Next Time, R.
Reference List
Rohit, K, N, 2019, ‘1 Year Without Social Media, Noteworthy – The Journal Blog, viewed 21 May 2021, < https://blog.usejournal.com/1-year-without-social-media-74308965ccc2 >
Unknown, 2018, ‘The Pros and Cons of Quitting Social Media’, SCL Health, viewed 22 Mary 2021, < https://www.sclhealth.org/blog/2018/10/quitting-social-media/ >
Catherine, W, 2020, ‘If You Quit Social Media, You’ll Notice These 6 Big Benefits’, A Conscious Rethink, viewed 23 May 2021 < https://www.aconsciousrethink.com/13415/benefits-quitting-social-media/ >
immerse into media 