Sophia says …
At the beginning of this year, I deleted Tiktok. This was when there were daily threats of it being banned, but that wasn’t the reason why I deleted it.
I needed to be free of distractions for my first ever college finals season, and the app was becoming a major time-suck for me. Originally, I planned to re-download it after all my exams at the end of January, but when I stepped out of my final exam period, I realized I didn’t miss it.
Since then, I’ve tried to drastically cut down my overall social media use. Instagram, Snapchat, and Facebook had been driving my screen time up since I got a phone my freshman year of high school. I’d never felt great about how much time I spent on my phone, but I always felt an obligation to be active on social media in high school, however dumb that sentiment might seem to anyone over the age of 25. And even when I moved abroad, I still felt pressure to post and scroll, staying updated on what my exclassmates were up to. But since January, and especially since the beginning of summer, I’ve noticed how much happier I am without the mindless scrolling. I have so much more time to journal, scrapbook, read and be creative.
I leave my phone in the other room, or in my car, when hanging out with friends and family.
I knew deleting Tiktok would be a time saver, but an unexpected perk of my heavily-reduced screen time has been the monetary savings. Because I don’t see ads or videos about everything from blush brushes to fancy highlighters, I haven’t been influenced to buy anything!
While disentangling my real life from my social media presence has been good for my mental health and my wallet, it certainly wasn’t easy.
I spent the first month of the year picking up my phone, scrolling to where Tiktok used to be, then turning off my phone, defeated. I still find myself mindlessly picking up my phone, swiping up to my home screen, and then realizing I don’t need to be on it. I do feel out of the loop sometimes with people my age, missing references to viral videos and memes, but I’m ultimately not missing out on much. The thing I truly value — quality time with the people I love — has been made so much more meaningful now that I’m not worried about the buzzing device in my pocket.
I don’t want this to feel preachy, or like I’m pressuring people to give up all social media. But I do think it’s valuable to be more intentional with the time you spend on your phone. Sometimes it’s OK to sit and do nothing — mindlessly staring at the wall just might be less harmful than mindlessly scrolling on Instagram.
