February 28, 2022

Social media is a blessing and a curse for this generation. I fall into the category of teenagers who are obsessed with social media. I spend on average six hours a day on my phone and around five hours of that is spent on social media. I am completely aware of the time I spend on social media and oftentimes find myself mindlessly scrolling when I could be doing something productive. Tomorrow, I plan on going the entire day without social media which include TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, and Facebook. I see people doing this all the time. One of my favorite YouTubers Ava Jules does this on Sunday as a weekly reset. I have thought about doing this but I am always reluctant because I don’t know what else to do. Social media has become part of my daily routine, I get on Instagram and TikTok when I first wake up, during school, waiting at restaurants, and especially when I don’t want to start my Pre-Cal homework.

I think this will be very hard but not impossible. I will still be able to text and call my family and friends if needed and watch Youtube or listen to music if I get too bored. The best thing that could happen is me finally doing work or maybe I will like it so much that I want to implement it weekly. I’m hoping for the best and this may just be the start of something new.

March 1, 2022

Yesterday, I declared that today would be a no social media day. Last night, I spent probably three consecutive hours switching from TikTok to Instagram to Snapchat because I knew that was the last time I would be able to do scroll on social media freely for the next 24 hours. I did not sleep very well last night probably because I was thinking too much about what was yet to come.

I woke up this morning 30 minutes late but I sprung out of bed and did not touch my phone until I put it in my backpack to leave the house. On the way to school, I listened to my music as usual and stopped by River City Coffee. I usually scroll on Instagram as I wait in line to get my morning Dirty Chai but I left it in the car because I knew I didn’t have that luxury. When I got to class five minutes early, I remembered that’s when I do another cycle of scrolling so to suppress the need I played Wordle and got it in six tries. Not my best but I blame that on the no social media. During the rest of the first block, I mainly focused which is what I usually do. At the end of the block, we had King Cake to celebrate Mardi Gras and I barely had time to dwell on my phone. I’m in second block right now and though I’ve gotten a lot done, I feel on edge and stressed. I am not blaming this on my social media-free day but I just feel weird and out of sorts. I predict this will get worse when I go home because I don’t really have much to do today and those are the days when I’m on social media the most.

March 2, 2022

I did it! It wasn’t as hard as I expected honestly. The most challenging part was after school as I suspected. I use my phone when I have downtime and that is mainly when I get home from school and I am waiting to go to dance, a game, or work. In third block, I didn’t think about social media because the class was so short and my English teacher made us watch a series of videos on Macbeth Act IV which kept me entertained. When I got home from school I took my dog for a small walk and then watered my plants which is something I was putting off for a while. I didn’t have much else to do because I had already done the dishes yesterday and I didn’t feel like cleaning my room. I sat down on the couch and finished my work for a school project and brainstormed for an essay. I was so bored so I decided to watch YouTube until it was time for me to get ready to go to dance for three hours. The house was extra quiet last night because my parents went out to a concert, this was the perfect time to do work. I did my nightly Pre-Cal homework and started my flashcards for AP Art History which aren’t due until March 10. By 11:30 p.m. I was tired so I got ready for bed and went to sleep.

This was a very successful “experiment” and I will try to continue to do this in the future. No social media until after school would be very beneficial and easy because it would allow me to focus on my school work during the day. I did not miss it as much as I thought I would. I got to see so many of my friends, I did not need to see what everyone was doing through a screen. I did miss TikTok and I probably went to click the app around 10 times until I realized I couldn’t which was very upsetting. I also got the urge to post my minor inconveniences and funny stories of the day on my Snapchat but I don’t think anyone cares anyways. I realized the amount of oversharing teenagers do for no reason. It is a part of our generation’s culture and that’s basically what we use social media for. Looking at my screen time, I spent six hours on my phone today. Nothing really changed in my screen time but most of it was entertainment rather it being social media. My most used app today was YouTube and a few of my friends argued that they think YouTube is social media but I go against that because I use it like I would use any streaming service like Netflix or Hulu. Yesterday was a very weird day in general due to all the revised bell schedule but I enjoyed my social media free day and will consider doing it weekly.