I Deleted All of my Social Media Accounts - This is Why

Deciding to delete all of my social media accounts was not an easy decision. When I realized I wanted to make this change I had Facebook, Instagram, Reddit, and a parenting app that I forget the name of. Long ago I did have MySpace, Twitter, Snapchat, and Vine but those were all much easier for me to part with. I think at one time I did enjoy all of these social media accounts but after a while, they became draining. My addiction to social media was strong and I realized I was scrolling my life away and viewing TONS of content! Not only was I wasting my time mindlessly scrolling but I started to feel anxious and frankly pretty sad. I felt like I was missing out. I saw photos of large groups of women and wondered how they had such a big circle of friends. I felt like I had to do more, know more, be more. Ads consumed my feeds. They were everywhere. It was all trying to get me to consume more - MORE! MORE! MORE! It was all too much!

I eventually saw these emotional and mental drains and their direct correlation to social media and began to cut it out of my life. Facebook was an easy one to start with. I knew I could deactivate it and return to it if I ever changed my mind. But even though it was the easy one for me to start with there was still a back and forth. How would I get notified about events? What if someone tagged me in a photo? Would I be missing out? Even with these concerns I was committed to this experiment and wanted to give this social media detox a try. I deactivated Facebook!

Next came Instagram. This was a harder decision. I felt proud of the content I was sharing. I also joined many influencers' challenges and actually won quite a few high-quality yoga items. I also liked seeing my friends' updates. It felt like I was connected to them, even though I really wasn't. Instagram had to go because it was the app that caused such sadness. I was comparing myself constantly to friends and influencers and when I finished my daily scrolling I was straight-up sad. It felt like I would never measure up, so why should I even try? What a yucky place to be in. Instagram had to go! I ended up saving a few photos from Insta that I no longer had in my camera roll and then deleted the app as well.

Then a few months later I decided to delete Reddit. Of course, this decision had its back and forth as well, I liked getting advice on certain things, I liked the 'aww' subreddit, I felt connected to an internet community and since this app was newer to me than Facebook and Instagram, it felt like I had more to explore. Eventually, the decision became clear to delete Reddit after seeing and being a part of some pretty hateful experiences. Because of the anonymity of the platform, people could say whatever they wanted and I asked myself "do I really want to be part of this?" The Internet-Hate-Machine is loud and cruel.. so Reddit had to go.

I had very similar experiences with the parenting app. It seemed like a great place to crowdsource and get my questions answered but every once and a while these women would just get so incredibly rude in their posts or answers. Again I was like "why am I spending my time on this anger-filled app?". I deleted the parenting app.

Every once and a while I would miss Facebook and Instagram. I have activated and deactivated my Facebook 3 times since the initial deactivation. I also created a new Instagram account and deleted it 3 days later. When I was secretly on these apps again I realized nothing had changed. It was still just tons of content, feelings of shame, and a ridiculous amount of ads. And these ads know exactly how to get ya! For me, it is home organization. So I had tons of videos and pictures of storage containers. For a while it had me going too, like if I just invest in all of these new storage containers my life will be so much better. Meanwhile, I am trying my best to consume less and then feeling guilty that I bought something unnecessary that I will most likely purge in a few weeks anyway. Ufdha how exhausting. But seriously, it was and is a vicious cycle. When I am on these platforms I am up against multi-million dollar marketing companies that know exactly how to target me, so I give myself a break.

I have been social-media-free for a few months now and I do not miss it. I don't feel like I am missing out. I don't feel like I need to do more or be more. I don't feel sad or stressed and I don't spend hours of my day looking at other people's lives. When I want the content I have to actively search for it. By doing this I am able to bring intentionality to my internet time. I still get sucked down rabbit holes from time to time, but the screen time is a fraction of the time.

I honestly believe that deleting these accounts has increased overall joy in my life! I talk with many women and mothers that feel like they are failing - failing their partners, family, or children. I believe this feeling of failure comes from so many societal pressures to be a certain way because whoever is on whatever platform seems to have it all together. I can truthfully say I have never questioned if I am a good mother. There have been times I have wondered if I am a good partner, but that was very early on in Silas' life and I rarely question that these days. Rather than viewing social media and others' standards, I check in with myself and my family and we do what works for us. For more on what works for us and the parenting choices that I am making, you can read on here.

As of right now, I am also interested in keeping my business off of social media. There is just so much content out there. And I would rather keep my business small and have people actively search for me and my content than have to add all of that work/stress/screen time for my life and for yours.

So for now, you will not find me on social media. As far as I know, this site is my only internet presence. If you want to get in touch or stay up to date with what I am doing then I would love it if you subscribe.