Thoughts and Results On Yet Another Social Media Fast
In December I decided to take what has become my second annual month-ish long social media fast.
There is a big part of me that wishes I wasn’t on social media at all and then there is another big part that really enjoys a lot of benefits of social media.
Last year I had a six week social media fast and shared some of the things I learned after that.
For this year I decided to take the entire month of December off of Facebook and Instagram.
To be honest, I didn’t miss it at all.
It seemed kind of funny to take a whole month off of Instagram when I just hit 10,000 followers on my homeschool IG account (so I could finally share links in my stories). I worked hard to hit that number, not for the number sake but for the benefits of the links. I definitely had a drop in followers for the month that I was off but it didn’t drop below 10,000 again so I’m thankful for that.
When January 1st rolled around I was actually too busy with life to even log in to Instagram and Facebook to see what I had missed and I was tempted to just give them up.
But, Facebook is the only place I have to contact some of my extended family members and there is a local foster family group on there that has been a wealth of knowledge in the beginning of our fostering journey so I am back on there. Though I don’t check it every day, it’s more like every other day or so and I still try to limit it to just my computer, I haven’t had the app on my phone for years and that’s been really nice.
I have decided to give up my personal Instagram account for the forseeable future. That came as a surprise to me because a year ago that would have been the only account I would have chosen to keep but things have changed a bit.
I am currently using my homeschool Instagram account because it does direct people to my site but I have not been checking it or scrolling nearly as much as I used to.
IN CONCLUSION
All in all I would say my second annual social media fast was a success.
I use Instagram and Facebook less now than I did before the fast and generally only go on if I have a reason to.
I am really enjoying having an annual fast from social media and am already planning on doing it again for next December.
Have you ever done a social media fast? How did it go? Anyone interested in joining me for my fast in December?
I feel similarly about social media and I have given them up for a bit. I just risks to outweigh the benefits. Instagram just makes me feel icky and like I’m not enough. Maybe if I had better pictures? I don’t know. I also only have so much time to give and if I find social media to be a waste of time then why would I want my followers to waste it too? Such a hard call though!
Yup, I totally agree, June. I think taking a month off each year is a good way for me to reevaluate my social media usage.
I really enjoyed my social media fast too, and this one was more impactful for me than the last time I took one. I really spent time trying to decide how I wanted to change my social media use in the future, and I think that helped alot. I will definitely be joining you again in December! I think I have hit just the right balance with Facebook now, but I still struggle with how to handle Instagram. I am the opposite in that I want to keep my personal Instagram because I print Chatbooks from it, and my kids love looking through them. But I still find myself checking it too often after I post a photo, and I’d like to iron out my feelings about Instagram a little bit more next year.
I’m glad I’m not the only one who has benefited from a social media fast!