There is no doubt that anyone who has a social media account can admit to having been sucked into the imaginary time vortex— pick your poison on your go-to platform— of said account. Personally, my most used platforms are TikTok, YouTube and Snapchat.
I’ve been an avid Snapchat user since 2013 . In 2016, I pitched to my boss that we should create an account for our school district (at the time, no school district in the state of Texas had ventured into the world of Snapchat). She was hesitant to reach out to our superintendent with my pitch, as most adults and parents were because of what they would hear on Facebook, but to everyone’s surprise he actually gave the green light. The account would become so successful that I was asked to present to hundreds of school district directors and social media managers on my best practices at the 2017 Texas School Public Relations Association annual conference. So, long story short, the platform means a lot to me.
YouTube is a platform I use for background noise. I need something to listen to while I’m getting ready for work every morning? Off I search for the latest Bon Appétit cooking episode. I want something to entertain me while I fold and put away laundry? House remodels please!
Now, TikTok. TikTok was introduced to me, as it was to more than 100 million users, at the start of the pandemic when lockdown started. I’ve only had an account since around mid-March of 2020, but that’s all it took for this platform to become such a huge part of my mornings, lunch time and evenings.
I love social media, and so much so that a large part of my job involves posting content across our district’s social media platforms so when our class was assigned a social media detox, I knew I was going to struggle a bit. Because my job depends on my posting on social media, I knew I couldn’t do away with it 100 percent, but at least on my personal accounts, I knew I would have to give it up cold turkey. Before starting the detox, I checked my iPhone’s Screen Time settings and learned that I spend about nine hours staring at my screen. At the time, I didn’t feel too bad about that number because I do use my phone to cover stories and events, but still, nearly 10 hours glued to my phone is basically the average person’s work day. So how much would eliminating my three most used platforms really impact my day?
For the course of the detox, I settled on measuring my findings by tracking three points that I felt would actually be affected: focus, anxiety and productivity. Throughout each day, I would write down my observations on my iPhone’s Notes app and the following is what I discovered.
Day 1: Tuesday
I think Tuesday was the hardest, and definitely felt a sort of exacerbated anxiousness. The first thing I wanted to do when I woke up that morning was open my go-to apps and scroll for five to 10 minutes before I had to get out of bed and start getting ready for work. I unlocked my phone, instinctively clicked on the TikTok app on my home screen and not even a second later closed it when I remembered the detox. During my morning shower I got a notification on my Apple Watch (I know, I know, I do shower with my watch, that’s a detox for another day) for a new cooking video recommendation. I sighed knowing I couldn’t watch it while I got ready, which resulted in a very quiet morning. On the plus side I did get to work about 15 minutes earlier than usual so that was a positive! I don’t think I was fully prepared mentally for how much I use these apps, so at the end of my first day, my anxiety was definitely higher than normal.
Day 2: Wednesday
My second day on the detox wasn’t as bad as the first because I kind of knew what to expect. Everything was going as well I thought could be expected until about lunch time when I heard a ping, and then another one, then two more until my anxiety got the best of me; I checked my phone and I had about nine TikTok notifications. The urge to quickly open it up and get rid of that ”what viral trend is happening on the app today,” but I knew I couldn’t. My focus wasn’t there today. Every time I got a buzz or a ping, my anxiety rose because rather than quickly checking or responding, I felt like I was purposely ignoring those trying to reach me.
Days 3 and 4: Thursday and Friday
Toward the latter part of my workweek, I actually felt pretty good. I figured if I didn’t want the anxiety that came with not knowing who was sending me memes or messages on social media, it wouldn’t bother me as much, and to my surprise, that actually worked. I went to my settings and turned off all alerts, which included my phone lock screen, notification center, banners, sounds and badges and wow did that work to my benefit. If I couldn’t physically see or hear any notifications, I didn’t feel like I had to check my phone every time it made a noise. Which made me start asking myself if our phones and social media have inadvertently Pavlov’d us. Russian Physiologist Ivan Pavlov is best known for his work in classical conditioning and the ever so infamous dog-bell-snack experiment. He made his dog pair food with a bell, and we seem to be paring dopamine with social media. While we’re obviously not at the level of his salivating dog, our brain is still being activated in a similar way.
Day 5: Saturday
It’s not too hard to stay off my go-to social media platforms during the weekend because I do tend to minimize how much I’m on them to be fully present with my S.O. (my love language is quality time so we do make an effort to go as much as possible without our phones). I had a productive day; I cleaned a very messy apartment, finished up my readings for class and even had time to end the day re-watching X-Men: Days of Future Past with my boyfriend. I didn’t have a single TikTok break during any of my readings or pause to watch a quick video on YouTube. It felt pretty great to be that focused on my work and actually apply Cal Newport’s “Deep Work” to my everyday life.
What I learned
So, what did I learn from being off of three social media platforms for five days? That I am on it way too much. At the end of my five-day detox, I checked my Screen Time summary and found that I was on my phone a whopping 19 percent less than the week before. I still spent about six hours a day on it, but again, I do use it for work for a large portion of my day. It was definitely hard at first. I didn’t tell anyone aside from my S.O. that I would be doing this detox so I did get a flood of worried texts from a few friends and family as to why I hadn’t responded to any messages and why I hadn’t opened any Snapchats from our family’s group chat. I learned that without the distraction that is social media, I had more time on my hands. I learned I could focus at work better and was actually able to get more done and be fully productive (and wasn’t late a single day this week, yay!). I learned that I don’t have to wake up tired each morning because I fell asleep watching TikTok or Snapchat videos. In “Have Smartphones Destroyed a Generation?” article by Jean Twenge, she cites a study where all screen activities are linked to less happiness and all onscreen activities are linked to more happiness. I can’t say that I started off the week that way, but hindsight is 20/20 and looking back at my week, what I felt toward the end was partially happiness, but mostly relief. I was able to spend actual time doing what I needed and wanted to do. I don’t think I’ll give up my three apps cold turkey forever, but there’s no harm in trying this maybe once a month? It was satisfying to not feel like Pavlov’s dog for a few days and if disconnecting from social media a few times a month can continue that relief, I definitely want to get that feeling back.
References:
Littleton, C. (2021, January 27). Why TikTok’s popularity exploded during the pandemic. Retrieved February 14, 2021, from https://variety.com/2021/digital/news/tiktok-popularity-covid-1234893740/
Mcleod, S. (2018). Pavlov’s dogs. Retrieved February 14, 2021, from https://www.simplypsychology.org/pavlov.html#:~:text=During%20the%201890s%2C%20Russian%20physiologist,a%20powder%20made%20from%20meat).
Twenge, J. M. (2018, March 19). Have smartphones destroyed a generation? Retrieved February 14, 2021, from https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2017/09/has-the-smartphone-destroyed-a-generation/534198/
Newport, Cal. (2018). Deep Work: rules for focused success in a distracted world. GRAND CENTRAL PU