Unexpected Benefits After Eliminating Social Media

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A few weeks ago I embarked on a journey of self-improvement by striking down one of the giants that made me a dopamine-addicted fiend. The giant was the social media website reddit. Reddit is like a giant forum that discusses just about everything, with a sophisticated comment section. I spent a lot of time on the site reading threads, comments, and replies to my own comments. Needless to say, the feeling of having conversations with others (and often correcting them) was addicting.

After I blocked the site with BlockSite, I experienced about a week of withdrawal. Since the withdrawal has ended, I thought I would illuminate you on some of the unexpected little benefits after taking social media out of my life (reddit was the only social media I was using recently).

1. I no longer have the urge to comment or share my thoughts with strangers online. This was actually quite unexpected. I couldn’t believe how addicted I was to commenting and checking for replies. If I felt a sudden insight into something, I would usually create a thread. If there was a big news item I would go to the boards to see what people were saying. I would constantly measure up other comments to see if strangers were thinking the same things that I was. This urge, which was nothing more than a trained impulse, has now died down to almost nothing. There is now a quietude in my life I had been missing.
2. I have more tolerance and energy for others. For a long time I thought I was in a near-constant state of introverted-hangover. Whenever I interacted with people I felt tired and irritable. I felt I had no patience for conversations or doing things with others. It was as if I was wearing a horsehair shirt, or that I had sand in my brain, grating at my thoughts and feelings. This is because I was draaaaiined. When I put the social media away, it was as if a cloud lifted. I no longer had feelings of tiredness and irritability manifest the second I had to engage with people. I realized I was no longer being interrupted (I have been “interrupted” at least four times while writing this article, but it hasn’t felt like I’ve been pulled away from something, I just get up and handle something then come back with no fuss). When you are engrossed in your smartphone, you can easily take someone’s need for your attention as a rude interruption. And of course since I have a family that was almost always when I am at home. It’s much easier to put a book down, pause the TV, or get up from your computer, than it is to set your phone down (I think about the little kid who can’t pause his online game). Social media is extremely stimulating and it also provokes and goads you to say stuff back to others, creating engagement and the illusion you are talking to people.
3. I can engage with other parts of the internet. Social media has a way of taking over so it becomes one of, if not the only, thing you visit in your online travels. It also destroys your ability to focus, which is critical to good internet usage. Focus is an important part of using the internet because some pages require your time and patience to fully enjoy its aspects. I began to explore other parts of the internet, which led to me getting back into learning web development, reading more in-depth news and articles like science journals, and updating my Goodreads profile to include all of the 1,000 books I’ve read with dozens of reviews. I take my time now with the internet, and I say this because I would scroll faster and faster through reddit the longer I stayed on it, all while my comprehension dipped to pure mental disability levels.
4. I am fully engaged at family functions. I used to engage a little bit, then find a corner to scroll through my phone. Now I leave my phone behind, or it stays in my pocket and doesn’t come out. This means I can engage with my family at full energy and still be okay by the time the function is over. I actually enjoy everybody’s company more this way. In a similar token, I am more engaged with my coworkers at work and still seek good conversation late into the work day, which is something I would only do during the first few hours of work before. It pains me to write this also, but I am more engaged when talking to and playing with my daughter. It’s as if there is no longer an invisible creature tugging at my sleeve to check for the newest posts.
5. My mood is elevated. It’s a lot harder for me to be in a bad mood, or moody, or apathetic now. I’ve realized that I would get burnt out from all of the emotions and feelings I’d get from memes, personal stories, and comments. I am a highly-sensitive introvert who easily gets overstimulated, and not just from people. Social media is perhaps one of the most stimulating things to scroll through, and a lot of us can’t handle it. I have returned to my natural pleasant demeanor and evenness.
6. My motivation has returned. I started to think something was wrong with me because as much as I intellectually knew I should be doing X, Y, and Z, I wasn’t motivated enough to get started. I realized my natural levels of motivation came back when, the other day at work, I fantasized about drawing and working on a website. I almost never think things like that without getting tired. In the past I would load my Udemy course on web development and feel exhausted two minutes in. Then I’d whip out my phone and start scrolling stuff, completely missing the lesson. Soon I’d pause the lesson and scroll for awhile before giving up entirely on the lesson and moving to a comfortable couch to continue my scrolling and commenting. Lately when I load a webpage that is meant to be used for learning, I stick with it and finish the lessons. This is a big win for someone who felt his life was being flushed down the toilet. It turns out social media was doing the flushing

The lessons I’ve learned, and the benefits I’m experiencing, even the small ones, are more than enough for me to encourage anyone suffering from social media exhaustion to put block it and remove the habit. If you find you can’t do some of the basics in life without feeling overwhelmed, you are definitely addicted and need to seek help, namely, through elimination.