Here’s what I learned from going 30 days without social media

My two closest friends and I had an idea to do monthly experiments. One of my friends, Daniela, did 30 days of cold showers. My other friend, Mariem went 30 days without a phone!

Now, it was my turn to choose, I decided I would go 30 days without social media. 

I wasn’t addicted to social media like other people, but I still liked it. I would notice that in my downtime I would spend too much time on it. My top three most used apps were Snapchat, TikTok, and Instagram. 

I was kind of excited going into the challenge, thinking it would be a walk in the park, but I quickly realized that I had many temptations of logging into my Snapchat and taking cute pictures with the happy vibes lite filter on. 

At school, I got a ton of work done. I was all caught up in my classes the first week of not having social media. When we started E-learning, I got everything done in four hours or less. 

On my birthday, I logged into my Snapchat, Instagram, and Twitter to reply to my friends and family on social media who wished me a happy birthday!

The only other cheat I had was on Daniela’s birthday. She forced me to log into my Snapchat and take a picture with her on her birthday. I’m sure a lot of people were confused about it. 

My best friend and I have a streak of 1,273 days and I had a close friend of mine keep it for me, shoutout to Jaylen Holmes, but he likes to be called JayCash. 

The app I missed the most was Pinterest. I felt like if I had Pinterest, I wouldn’t have used it as much as Snapchat and TikTok and had that toxic relationship with social media. 

Going 30 days without social media made me realize that I spent way too much time procrastinating and wasting time when I didn’t even realize it.

When this challenge was over, I didn’t really have the need to go back on social media. I felt like I was good without it. 

I’m very happy with how this challenge went, I feel like I’ve accomplished it and never had a social media mental breakdown. 

From now on, I think I’ll limit my social media down for sure, I definitely won’t go on it first thing in the morning and not do it during school work time. 

During this challenge, I kept a mini-journal of my daily experiences. Check it out below:

March 1:

Got a ton of work done and was all caught up in my classes

March 2:

Replaced my Snapchat with Gmail. I opened Gmail a lot.

March 3:

One more day until my birthday!

March 4:

Used social media for the whole day, mainly Snapchat, Instagram, and Twitter.

March 5:

No more social media again…yay

March 6:

With my busy schedule, I realize how much time I wasted on social media other than focusing on more important things.

March 7:

Played volleyball in Kentucky all day, missed taking timer selfies with my team.

March 8:

I got like five hours of homework done. I felt like I got caught up on every class.

March 9:

I MISS TIKTOK.

March 10:

I don’t even charge my phone during the day. I’m seriously never on it anymore.

March 11:

COVID-19 is really taking over. I wonder how many TikToks have been made.

March 12:

I had a super busy day. I can’t even imagine how much time I would’ve wasted on my phone.

March 13:

Created a new playlist and felt really good about it, basically Spotify and Apple music was my new social media lol

March 14:

I worked all day. It went by super fast and I watched Netflix the rest of the night.

March 15:

Church was canceled. Wow, should I be nervous?

March 16:

It was Daniela’s birthday and she begged me to post about her. I did log into my Snapchat.

March 17:

A whole day off, and I went to the gym, the grocery story, and took a nap.

March 18:

Okay, guys, I miss Pinterest a lot, like a lot. I wish I could go shopping for cute clothes.

March 19:

The first day of E-learning, I spent two hours on Pre-Calc work, but I’m actually understanding it a lot more.

March 20:

Honestly, having no social media with no school is kinda nice. I’m reading a new book that Daniela told me about and it’s great!

March 21:

Lots of school work, not really thinking much about social media.

March 22:

I work out every day and get all my work done and have two hours of downtime until I fall asleep.

March 23:

Tomorrow I work, so I get to get out of the house, finally.

March 24:

The day was super busy! I thought that people were supposed to stay inside, but they are all at their local Ace Hardware store.

March 25:

I worked on school work all day, nothing new.

March 26:

I visited some close family:)

March 27:

I went grocery shopping! I might’ve dressed in my mom jeans and a cute shirt to feel good about myself.

March 28:

I worked six hours get that cash boy.

March 29:

I did log into Snapchat. I only took cute pictures of me using the happy vibe lite filter. Okay, the camera for the Apple phone can only do so much.

March 30:

Last day!

March 31:

I still haven’t logged into any social media. I probably will after work today.  I just don’t feel the need to.

The views in this column do not necessarily reflect the views of the GENESIS staff. Reach Felisha Campanello at [email protected].