I don’t know about you, but when I think about social media, I think about a whole fourth dimension, an alternate universe. In the society we live today, we are preoccupied with getting every bit of our lives recorded to post on our Snapchats and Instagram that the things that are rather intimate are out for the public view. In my experience of having social media, there was always this stigma lingering around that if you don’t look a certain way, to be a certain way, you are simply not fit for social media. As an adolescent, I am sure you wouldn’t want someone to be indirectly judging you by the way you post and tear down your mental health.

The teenage years are a tricky situation, you might feel like there is a loophole that keeps repeating. Back in June of 2019, I decided to do something that I thought I would never do: delete ALL my personal social media accounts.

This was a rather challenge for me at first to not wake up to any new notifications, but I realized that there is bigger benefit to this than simply not being online. Now, I don’t feel obligated to post something trendy once every two days, or constantly update my story. According to statistics from Freedom students, the average screen time is four hours and 36 minutes per day…on a school day.

Sara Elboufi has 650 followers on Instagram, and 862 followers on TikTok.

“My screen time in seven hours a day, and it doesn’t make me feel good because I just find myself comparing myself to others.”

Imagine how many hours an average teen might spend on days where they don’t have school like in the summer. In those four hours, students would be able to exercise on other things like their hobbies, their interests or even study/ homework (that is right, STOP PROCRASTINATING!).

I believe that there must be a barrier between your private and public lives. If you publicize the moments that are very sentimental and have a true meaning for you, it will simply loose its personal connection and importance since that moment is not yours anymore, it is all your followers’ instead.

In my experience of a week without constantly posting, updating my life, or just wandering about online (in other words, completely disappearing from the social world), I was able to realize that there are more important things in life than caring about what other people think or how they make you feel. Throughout the decade social medias are growing to countless numbers. Though as they are growing, they are becoming more and more populated with more controversial topics and ideas spreading like wildfire. Not only does this hold a negative toll on our mental health in more ways than one, you will feel mentally deteriorated comparing yourself to unrealistic and superficial standards shown on a post that could have been edited, photoshopped, or basically fake. We are unconsciously conditioned to live up to someone else’s expectation, when we don’t even know what our expectation are. Understanding who you are, especially as a high school student, is important when making decisions that can furthermore pave a path in your life.

Without this heavy weight on my shoulder, I was able to grow my interests and even pick up a new hobby. Reflecting by journaling, or taking up a new ceramics class- these are things you can do to relax you down in a Zen, stress-free environment. Now, going over two years strong without any personal social medias, I am improving my skills and talents and creating new relations with people in real-life that I would have not created otherwise on the social web.

In just one press of the “delete” button, I was able to thrive in all ways- and you can do it too. Try to challenge yourself and go without social media for just one week and see how you do. If I can make a change, a positive change, that will affect how I view myself. Why are you putting so much pressure on yourself for just an icon when you can be avoiding these unnecessary burnouts? “I am less focused, and have no motivation to do my schoolwork, and the academic decline with my performance is visible.”