When Gayle Macdonald reached a summit in the Sierra Nevada mountain range in Spain earlier this year, she didn’t just stop to enjoy the moment.
This 45-year-old woman also did what many people would do: she looked for the best place to have a drink. selfies for your social media accounts. Gayle even admits that she stepped dangerously close to the edge while she was doing it.
It was after that moment, for which she was reprimanded by her husband, that she decided leave social media
“I thought, ‘this has to stop,’” recalls Gayle, a British expat living near the Spanish city of Granada. “Taking a picture was the first thing on my mind when I got out of the car.”
“Thinking all the time about creating content and worrying about what to say took up too much mental space and it depressed me”.
A week later, he posted on Facebook and Instagram that he would be leaving the platforms. “It was amazing how my most liked post on Instagram was. Everyone was saying ‘I wish I could do that’ and ‘you’re so brave.’
how to quit alcohol
Gayle, who works as life coach (personal mentor), who specializes in helping people stop drinking, found out what was going on around 11 hours a week, on average, on social media.
She says the thought of giving up the apps was much scarier for her than actually giving them up.
“Once the initial withdrawal was over, I had no cravings anymore,” he says. “He was quite liberating. I am now over six months sober on social media and have regained some of that sense of freedom and peace that I experienced when I gave up alcohol.”
Addiction
Many of us dedicate a large part of our time to social networks. A global study in July estimated that the average person spends two hours and 29 minutes per day in these types of applications and websites. That’s five minutes more than a year earlier.
While some people may think this is a bad habit they should kick, for others it’s a real addiction that they need help to break.
UK Addiction Treatment (UKAT), an organization that runs centers in the UK to treat addiction to social media, says it has seen a 5% increase in the number of people seeking help for the problem in the past three years.
“Without a doubt, society has developed a strong dependence on social networks and the internet in general since the pandemic,” explains Nuno Albuquerque, UKAT adviser.
Increased awareness of these concerns has led to more people like Gayle leaving social media, or at least spending less time on it. And providers are taking notice.
Earlier this year, Facebook owner Meta reported that its number of daily active users had dropped for the first time in its history. Meanwhile, an internal Twitter report leaked last month said its previously most active users were now tweeting less. Twitter did not deny the accuracy of the leak.
Even the new owner of Twitter, billionaire businessman Elon Musk, speculated earlier this year: “Is Twitter dying?” And in recent days, his takeover has resulted in some Hollywood celebrities saying they are leaving the platform, unhappy with Musk’s views on free speech and plans for the service.
Books, not networks
But getting back to the real world, what are the other reasons people leave social media?
Entrepreneur Urvashi Agarwal previously left Instagram in 2014, but that only lasted for around a year. In August of this year, she deleted her personal account for the second time and is convinced that this time there will be no going back.
“It’s definitely over for me,” says the founder of British tea bag brand JP’s Originals, who lives in London.
“Hundred percent. Not only is this a waste of time, but there seems to be less and less privacy in the world. Everything you do is constantly out there.”
Urvashi no longer uses Twitter or Facebook, and finds it liberating. “I’m lovin ‘it. Now I read 15 pages of a book every night.”
Awareness of lost time
Hilda Burke, a psychotherapist and author of “The Phone Addiction Workbook,” says there is now a more widespread awareness of how much time people “waste” on social media platforms.
“This is now easily quantifiable, as most phones show you the breakdown of how you spend your time online,” he says.
“Seeing how it all adds up can serve as a powerful wake up call. Many of my clients have expressed a correlation between heavy use of social media and lack of sleep and increased anxiety.
She advises that people who leave social media should tell all their friends, so they don’t keep trying to contact them through the sites. “Offer other ways to get in touch… maybe an old-fashioned phone call might be better for the relationship in the absence of direct messages.”
Kashmir, who declined to give her last name, is a 27-year-old public relations executive from Rochester, Kent, UK. She left Instagram 10 months ago, and previously moved away from Snapchat as well.
“The main driver was my mental health“, He says. “There’s a lot of pressure to live up to what other people are doing, which is not really representative or the reality of that person.”
“At night I would stare at my phone and then sleep badly, waking up feeling unrefreshed. Now I’m not making comparisons in my everyday life, and I really don’t know what celebrities are doing.”
“(Having left the networks) allows me to be more present, firm and committed to the decisions I make instead of letting myself be influenced.”
Kashmir adds that not being on Instagram and Snapchat doesn’t affect her PR work, and that she still uses LinkedIn if she’s ever looking for a new job.
“Life is more than networks”
UKAT’s Nuno Albuquerque says social media can be addictive for many reasons, the main one being that it’s a form of escapism, especially for the younger generation.
“It’s just a way to connect offline, and for many it’s something that gives you 24/7 security. But addiction feeds on isolation, and if someone spends more time living online than offline, the moment, he will naturally isolate himself and this can become an addiction”.
He welcomes the fact that more people are leaving social media. “It’s likely that eventually we’ll start to realize the damage it can do to our relationships, mental health, and our experience of real-world moments.”
Meanwhile in Spain, Gayle Macdonald says she’s happier without social media. “It’s so liberating to sit down and have a cup of tea without worrying about the image, the caption and whether or not it should be a story, a reel or a post. Life really is more than that.”
Source: Eluniverso
Paul is a talented author and journalist with a passion for entertainment and general news. He currently works as a writer at the 247 News Agency, where he has established herself as a respected voice in the industry.
