What\u2019s the first thing you do in the morning? Do you head straight to the shower? Stop first for a moment\u2019s cuddle with a pet, a kid, or your significant other? Or…do you immediately grab your phone from the nightstand and start scrolling through your social media accounts to see what you\u2019ve missed overnight? For a lot of people it\u2019s the latter, and it may also have been the last thing you did before going to sleep…and what you did at lunch, and during your coffee break, and after dinner while the kids played Fortnite. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
You may not personally have arrived at that point yet, or you may have passed it long ago. Either way, there are many good reasons to consider deleting your social media accounts (or at least, dialing way, waaay back). Here are seven of them, and some arguments to help you clarify how you think about your social media use. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
This is as good a reason as any to start with: Social media can suck up a lot of your day. According to research site Statista<\/a>, the average person spends 145 minutes each day on social media. That\u2019s two hours and 25 minutes, or almost 17 hours over the course of a seven-day week. Of course, this is just an average. Some people spend less time, others spend much, much more. <\/p>\n\n\n\n That\u2019s an astonishing amount of time, when you think about it. It\u2019s more time than we spend<\/a> (on average) on housework, food prep, eating and drinking, child care, or volunteering. It\u2019s the equivalent of a part-time course, or an evening class. It\u2019s time you could use to relax, develop new skills, or just simply have fun with the people in your life. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Social media platforms don\u2019t charge money, on the whole (business-oriented LinkedIn is the outlier, in that respect). Instead, they generate revenue through \u201cengagement\u201d \u2014 all of the things you like, share, quote, retweet or click on \u2014 with the platform, and the potential advertising revenue that engagement represents. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The problem is that each platform\u2019s algorithms try to give you more of what you like, or at least what it thinks you like. It\u2019s the information equivalent of how fast food chains have steadily increased portion sizes, or found novel ways to load their menus with ever-greater quantities of cheese and bacon. Unfortunately \u2014 like the foods in that analogy \u2014 the content (and advertising) the algorithm promotes is often unhealthy<\/a>, pushing misinformation, conspiracy theories and socially or politically polarizing material. <\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s a perfectly normal, human trait to compare ourselves to others. We want to know how we measure up, and why not? We all know in some part of our mind that it\u2019s never that simple \u2014 no two people have exactly the same circumstances and abilities \u2014 but we do it anyway. Social media makes this worse, because you\u2019re not (as they say) comparing apples to apples. <\/p>\n\n\n\n You see your own life in all its gloriously chaotic, unpredictable \u2014 and often unwanted \u2014 messiness, but you\u2019re comparing that real-world, well\u2026\u201creal-ness\u201d… to a glossy, curated version of someone else\u2019s life that\u2019s had all the inconvenient parts edited out. Dr. Samantha Boardman<\/a>, a psychologist, calls that \u201cduck syndrome\u201d: You\u2019re seeing the serene above-water part of the duck, but not the feet paddling madly below the surface to create that impression. A more insidious side of the same psychological quirk makes us feel that we ourselves, as people, don\u2019t measure up. In a best<\/em> scenario, that\u2019s the kind of chronic, low-grade insecurity that can sap our happiness and confidence. At its worst, numerous studies<\/a> have demonstrated that it can lead to depression, anxiety, body image issues<\/a> and other forms of mental illness. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Many researchers consider the risks to be especially high for teens<\/a>, who are still actively shaping their self-image and are therefore more vulnerable. After all, how many real teens look like the actors and models on Instagram? How many real girls\u2019 faces look like the idealized, Disney-esque versions of themselves they can create with Snapchat filters? Okay, a quick show of hands: Who can remember hearing the word \u201cover-share\u201d before social media came along? Yeah, that\u2019s right. It\u2019s not that the reality of it is new \u2014 we can assume humans have been blurting too much about ourselves for as long as we\u2019ve had a language to do it \u2014 but until social media, the audience for our indiscretions was limited. Now, we unthinkingly spill the most intimate details of our lives in a public place where it\u2019s not only viewable, but recorded for posterity<\/em>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n You may shrug, and think \u201cI\u2019ve got nothing to hide,\u201d but that\u2019s short-sighted. Remember that link you posted to your grandma\u2019s obituary? You just told everyone your mother\u2019s maiden name. The funny\/sad story you posted on a dog-lovers\u2019 page included the name of your first pet, and a few more minutes on your timeline might furnish your date of birth, hometown and the name of your high school. In short, an identity thief who bought your name, credit card number, and security code on the Dark Web could quickly find everything else needed to successfully impersonate you. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Similarly a plain ol\u2019 thief who sees your post every Friday from the same park knows when to break into your home, and a stalker (or process server) who sees the same post knows where to find you. We could continue, but at this point a few more examples probably won\u2019t matter. Let\u2019s draw the line at seven reasons, and review the case for deleting your social media accounts. <\/p>\n\n\n\n You may consider yourself jaded or blas\u00e9<\/em> about modern, online digital life, but perhaps a few of those points may resonate with you. So let\u2019s assume for a moment you\u2019ve undertaken a serious reconsideration of your social media usage, and you\u2019re willing to at least consider quitting social media entirely. What might that look like? <\/p>\n\n\n\n Even if you wake up tomorrow morning and decide you\u2019re done with social media, it\u2019s going to take a little while to actually get the job done. To begin with, you should at least make a post (or message your contacts) to let everyone know you\u2019re bowing out. Otherwise you\u2019ll be the digital equivalent of the apocryphal guy who goes out to the store and never comes back, and some of your online friends will fear you\u2019ve come to harm. It\u2019s a small but very important courtesy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Next, you\u2019ll need to visit every platform\u2019s help pages to learn how to download any photos, posts or other information you might want to save (not all of them offer an easy way to do this), and then how to delete your account. You may or may not have the option of deleting all of your personal information from the platform, as well. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Once you\u2019re fully prepared, you have a couple of strategies to choose from. You might opt to begin with your least-used accounts, and then work your way up to the ones where you spend the most time. Alternatively, you might want to start with your biggest time-waster, and then chase down the smaller and less-used accounts (\u201cWow, do I really still have a MySpace page?\u201d). Some of you at this point may be shaking your heads, and thinking about all the reasons why quitting outright wouldn\u2019t work for you. You may use social media in your work, for example, or it might play a key role in your \u201cside hustle\u201d of choice. Using it for work but not personally would be a pretty difficult balancing act. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Also, to be fair, there are plenty of positives about social media. At its best, it can genuinely help foster a sense of community, and help people connect with each other across geographic and cultural boundaries. For those who are outsiders in their own families or communities, social media provides a lifeline linking them to like-minded peers and can actually help<\/em> their mental health. On a more pragmatic level, without social media, crowdfunding would be almost impossible. <\/p>\n\n\n\n If you\u2019re unwilling to cut the cord completely, for those or other reasons, there\u2019s a middle ground: You can scale back your usage in ways that protect your privacy or rebuild the balance between your online and offline lives. <\/p>\n\n\n\n If you\u2019ve settled on downsizing your social media presence, rather than on eliminating it entirely, there are a couple of road maps you might follow. The course you choose will depend on your ultimate goal, whether it\u2019s an increase in privacy or a decrease in mindless time-wasting. <\/p>\n\n\n\n If you\u2019re interested in privacy, you might follow a sequence of steps much like this one: <\/p>\n\n\n\n If you want to restrict your social media use because of its impact on your personal life, rather than its potential for misuse, your priorities will be a bit different. A few possible approaches might include the following: <\/p>\n\n\n\n One thing not<\/em> to do is to ask a roommate or your romantic partner to police your usage. That\u2019s a big ask, and it will inevitably put a lot of strain on your relationship. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Ultimately, it\u2019s up to you whether \u2014 and how much \u2014 you reduce your social media usage. If you\u2019re obsessive about it to the point of addiction, going cold turkey might be your only realistic option. For most others, scaling back or simply performing frequent privacy checks will be enough. It\u2019s all about your own priorities. <\/p>\n\n\n\n If you sleep better at night knowing that your privacy settings are secure, or feel better once you\u2019ve redirected your time and energy to more constructive activities, that\u2019s a solid win. Either way, you\u2019ll be happier as a result and you\u2019ll benefit from the long-term impacts on your life. <\/p>\n\n\n\n After all, there\u2019s very little risk that you\u2019ll look back later in life and wish you\u2019d spent more<\/em> time doomscrolling on Twitter or looking at other peoples\u2019 restaurant meals on Instagram. <\/p>\n\n\n\n What\u2019s the first thing you do in the morning? Do you head straight to the shower? Stop first for a moment\u2019s cuddle with a pet, a kid, or your significant…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":112,"featured_media":25263,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[614],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25262","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-safety"],"yoast_head":"\n2. Social Media May Distort Your View of the World<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
3. Social Media Can Make You Feel that Your Life Doesn\u2019t Measure Up<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Comparing your own real<\/em> life to someone else\u2019s illusory perfection is a certain recipe for unhappiness and dissatisfaction. <\/p>\n\n\n\n4. Social Media Can Be Bad for Your Mental Health<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Teens may be especially susceptible, but if we\u2019re being honest with ourselves, most adults are vulnerable as well. <\/p>\n\n\n\n5. Social Media Can Be Bad for Your Privacy<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\nThe Case for Deleting Your Social Media Accounts<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Delete Social Media Cold Turkey (Spoiler: It\u2019s Hard)<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Either way, expect it to be hard. Remember, you\u2019re freeing up a lot of time that you ordinarily fill by reflexively reaching for your phone. If you don\u2019t have a plan to replace social media with something else, and distract yourself from the phone, you\u2019ll be sheepishly signing up again within days. <\/p>\n\n\n\nBut What about the Positives? <\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Taking it Down a Notch<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
With Social Media, Less Can Definitely Be More<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Sources<\/h3>\n\n\n\n