If you are a high school student, the academic pressure tends to rule out your social life because of which you resort to keeping up with your social media handles.
Using apps like Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat and Tumblr tend to become a lifestyle and you don’t realize the number of hours you spend staring at a screen laughing at aimless memes.
You just got offended, didn’t you?
Earlier this year, I started keeping track of my screen time and realized that I spent an average of 3 hours on social media; you read it right, three whole hours.
This estimate was excluding the time I spent on YouTube and Wattpad.
So much for studying in high school right?!
You can say that epiphany decided to strike me one random day in March this year when I decided to put an end to my unproductivity.
Day One
Having told my close friends to contact me on WhatsApp only (for I had to make sure I was available there for contact basis), I said goodbye to the habit of blaming my unproductively on procrastination.
For the first day, my fingers hovered over the colourful logos, longing to have a peek into the social world.
I hadn’t switched off my notifications as of yet and I could read a few messages my friends sent me.
I realized that it only increased my urge to open the app, so I shut them off too.
23rd of March was a long day and I suddenly had two hours of complete boredom, something I had not experienced for the past few months.
The Following Week
It is difficult to cut off your social life completely and depend upon yourself to stay occupied.
The urge to spend ‘only 5 minutes’ on Instagram and Snapchat started to creep into my veins.
It was like drug withdrawal symptoms. I used to pick up my phone and realize that I had nothing to do with it.
The devil in my head suggested the idea of downloading Netflix to pass my time but I made sure I didn’t do so.
Also Read: The Media of Social Media – The Tumblr vs. Facebook Story
The Second Week
It got easier in the second week. I started spending more time with my family and many more hours productively.
Instead of communicating with my friends via text, I made plans to meet them in person.
While in a social circle, the push to upload a story on Instagram or send in Snaps to my closest friends did bother me.
“You’re off social media, you’re off social media”, I kept repeating to myself.
People around me made it more difficult; they spoke about trends and fellow friends’ stories that I couldn’t understand. I felt left out: could so much happen in just two weeks?
The Third Week
This is when people who I don’t talk to a lot started noticing my absence. On meeting them, they would ask “You’re off Instagram kya (or what)?”
That question was only answered with a dry “Yeah…”
My screen time went down to 2 hours in the whole day, which included time spent reading, watching YouTube, in short, productive use.
The Fourth Week
I began to develop a feeling of Instagram being useless and simply a waste of time. That’s when I realized that I was over the phase of procrastination.
I viewed my phone as a device I used to enhance my productivity instead of a source of entertainment.
My screen time further fell to one hour and thirty minutes, a great success for me.
I felt more at ease and learnt that there is so much more you can do on your phone than use social media.
There are health care apps, apps that ensure an exercise routine and apps that enhance a certain skill like drawing, painting, reading etc.
I would highly recommend you try this too. You can start by putting app limits on your phone, it’ll ease up the withdrawal.
And don’t forget to share your experience with me in comments.
Image Sources: Google Images
Find The Blogger: @khwahishkhan204
Other Recommendations:
5 Mental Health Care Apps To Get You Through The Exam Season
