Escaping The Clutches Of Social Media

5 ways to Free Yourself

At the time I write this, I'm 37. I'm on my local beach in the crisp autumn air, listening to the waves crash against the pebbled shore. I spent my morning reading a book, doing a little yoga and standing in my fairy-light lit kitchen, making my sons packed lunch. There was no scrolling, no checking stories and updates, no 'pings' or digital distractions.

As a 37 year old, I am one of the humans old enough to have had a childhood free from social media. It didn't become a huge deal until my mid to late twenties.

I remember the Nokia 3210 mobile phones coming out when I was a child. The excitement of playing 'Snake' on the bus and using character limited text messages to tell my mum 'on bus c u l8er'

I remember flip phones and the first time you take a pixilated photo on a camera phone.

I remember making a MySpace profile when I was 18 and not really doing much with it. Early social media was no where near as invasive.

I remember when only young people used Facebook! It was a place to catch up with old school friends that had gone off to Uni.

And I remember the first time I used Instagram. I was 26. I started a yoga profile as a way to keep me motivated with my new wellbeing practice and take part in the yoga challenges that regularly take place among the yogi Instagram community. This was before 'stories' and 'reels' and the rest of the mayhem. It was just creative people sharing photos and short videos of things they were passionate about.

In 2017, I opened my shop Rekindle By Lisa, and decided to use Instagram as a platform to share my new business and 'find my tribe'. It worked. 1000 followers came pretty quick. I could post a simple photo and have hundreds of views without needing to think too much about engaging content. I didn't have to show everybody every moment of my life in order to gain a small, loyal community of fellow Earth and Animal lovers. I am grateful to Instagram for helping me grow my business and spread some compassion and kindness in the world.

You see social media isn't all bad! It gives people a platform to express themselves. It encourages people to come together in the force of good, helping important issues come to light- growing communities of people wanting to make the world a better place. And if you are someone who ISN'T deeply affected by anxiety, lack of ability focus, comparisons and overthinking, then maybe social media can be a positive and useful tool for you. But for me, it just fuels the negative cycles in my brain that leave me feeling anxious, low, distracted and frustrated.

In my opinion, social media has crossed over in to a negative space over the past few years. The claws dug deeper. Social media stopped being something 'separate to' and became a part of us. It became a habit. An addiction, stealing our time, focus and, thanks to all of those ads, our money too. This was no mistake. these platforms are designed to play with our natural chemical responses. To keep us coming back. To make us feel completley comfortable sharing intimate moments of our lives (and in some cases, our children's lives!) with the world. That's powerful stuff. It's become so engrained in our souls, such a part of our identities and an integral cog in the workings of our society- how can we escape it? What would we do without it? How would we promote our work? How would we know what was happening in the world? How would we speak to friends? Who would share all the special moments of our lives with? Who are we taking all these photos and videos for? (it's certainly not for ourselves anymore is it?!)

No no- it's too difficult to leave. We NEED it. So we stay. Even though we know how many hours of our precious lives we have spent scrolling. We feel that sinking in the pit of our stomach when we're on our smart phones instead of engaging with our children. We know what it is taking from us and how it affects our mental health but we stay anyway, becuase it's just the way the world is now.

I can't tell you how often I dreamed of leaving social media and how long it took me to do it. I feared leaving Instgram. I actually feared it. Because I thought I would lose so much. But in the end, I feared my child growing up in a world of social media more and I feared not giving myself the opportunity to bloom without it. And so I temporarily disabled my account and I am embarking upon a year without it, with the intention of completely deleting it at the end of this trial year.

For my art work, I plan on using Google SEO to bring people to my website. I plan to update my blog, send email newsletters, keep creating new items for my shop and work on my keywords and SEO within Etsy. I am even considering putting on a local art exhibition too!

If social media affects you in the same way it affects me, maybe you would like to join me on this journey? A year without whichever social media platform has you hooked! Fly free! You are still you without it.

Here are some ways you can help to free yourself!

1. Take photos and videos of moments in your life for YOU. Or for your children. For memories. You will always care the most about those moments, other people just don't care as much (to be painfully blunt). They are YOUR memories. So buy or make a beautiful photo album at the end of the year featuring the special moments that you can look back on for years to come. There is nothing quite like a physical album to look through. If you're creative, spend some time decorating it and adding things you have collected throughout the year such as postcards, greetings cards and brochures from places you have visited.

   

2. Find alternative ways to promote your work. Google SEO, advertising locally with flyers or in local magazines, word of mouth, exhibitions, selling platforms such as Etsy or Not On The HighStreet, your own website, blogs, email newsletters. This will differ depending on your profession, so do some research in to ways to grow your kind of business without needing social media.

   

3. Spend time out in NATURE. There are many benefits to being in a natural space, including reduced stress levels, lower anxiety and improved mood. Head out to a woodland, beach, forest, park, river, lake (whatever you have close to you). Zip up your phone in your back pack so that it's a pain to have to take it out and allow yourself to take in the sights, sounds, textures and smells around you. Close your eyes- notice the bird song or the fallen leaves underfoot, the sound of waves lapping against the shore, the biting winter air or the warm sun on your face. Feel it. Nothing you can see on a screen will ever compare to this feeling of connection and peace.

   

   
   

4. Keep up to date with friends and family in person, over the phone, via messages or even go old school with pen, paper and post boxes!. If you have friends that you haven't seen in a while and you only know what's going on in their lives through what they post on social media, then you probably don't really know what's going on in their lives. People tend to post the highlight reels. So if you value them as a friend and enjoy spending time with them, why not arrange to meet up instead?. If you don't really want to meet up with these friends, or call or message or write them a letter- then maybe it's not such a huge deal if you fall out of contact with them.

   

5. Take up a simple hobby. Anytime you feel that urge to reach for your phone and re-install the social media app to begin the doom scroll, instead, have a simple hobby to put in it's place. Something uplifting that puts you in a good head space. This could be a self help book or an uplifting comedy novel! Keep the book on the bed side table or in your bag or on the coffee table and pick up the book instead of the phone. Or maybe you want to take up crochet? Or watercolour painting? or play a board game with your partner. Maybe have something for when you're travelling and on the go- such as an old school camera for your new photography hobby or a puzzler to fill out on the train and then something for those evenings at home when you would, otherwise, scroll your time away. Keep a box next to the sofa filled with fun activities that you can easily grab and begin. Notebooks, colouring books, journals (can you tell i'm in to books?!) OR even do that youtube cardio dance class you've been thinking about or that bed time yoga! You see.. when you don't sit with a phone in your hand, suddenly you have time!

   

I hope this ramble and guide gives you the inspiration you need to take this positive step towards a happier and healthier you.

All you have to do to begin is grab your smart phone, open the 'settings' on the dreaded app and click the 'disable my account' button. Then delete the app from your phone and put your phone in a box or drawer in another room in your home. Immediately start number 5 on my list of ways to free yourself and feel the immediate benefits!

Good luck to us all!

Thank you for reading my waffle 💕