Here’s what I learned from going 30 days without social media
Junior Felisha Campanello is the News Editor for Elkhart Memorial GENESIS. She specializes in news writing and enjoys writing about health and nutrition.
April 4, 2020
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].
