Top Five Reasons Why You Should Take a Social Media Break

By Ian Donnelly

Ask anyone with a smartphone if they spend too much time on social media and you’re almost guaranteed to get a universal answer: way too much time.

It’s a fact of modern life: being on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or Snapchat is borderline required these days. But like any innovation, it has its repercussions. Social media is changing the way we interact, and has been scientifically proven to affect users’ mental health.

This probably won’t come as a shock to anyone. We’ve all experienced those eerie, and kind of scary, social media-obsessed moments—like when you hop on your phone for what feels like a few minutes and look up to realize you’ve been thumbing through posts for an hour, or when you’re out with a friend who spends so much time checking their feed that they barely acknowledge you’re there. It’s ironic that a tool designed to connect people can have adverse side effects, but it’s best to treat social media like any other inclination: too much is never a good thing.

If you’re concerned with how much time you spend on social media (and let’s be honest, who isn’t?) you may want to take a break. Even staying off your news feed for a weekend or during a vacation can make a difference. If you’re on the fence about a social media detox, here’s a handful of the reasons that a break is a good idea.

Social Media and Depression Go Hand-in-Hand

Research conducted by the University of Pittsburgh found a substantial correlation between time spent on social media and risk for depression: as the former increases, the latter follows, and it doesn’t take a PhD in Psych to see why.

Spending too much time glued to your phone will inevitably lead you to feel disconnected from the real world. It’s a tool for connecting and networking with people, but if you only interact with them through your screen it can take a toll on how you perceive and experience things going on around you. It’s easy to neglect sleep, exercise, and eating right when all your focus is online. The more time you depend on social media, the less invested you are in real-life experiences and relationships.

Your Popularity Gets Ranked

Competition is part of being human. It’s why we have games, sports, contests, and so on—if there’s a way to make it competitive, chances are it already is. Popularity is no different (just ask the Prom King and Queen) but social media has launched popularity contests to a whole new level.

Like any other game where the most points win, popularity has developed its own scoreboard with the rise of social networks. It’s now easy to view your likes, follows, and comments as a tally for your social standing, and the weight you put on these numbers can be harmful to your sense of self-worth.

The more preoccupied you become with social media, the more likely you are to stress about how many people “like” you. This can be a real pick-me-up when one of your pictures on Instagram gets a ton of praise or your Facebook post gets shared, but if a lack of engagement is affecting your mood or confidence level, it’s best to step away from your phone and address those feelings.

The FoMO is Real

You’ve probably heard the term FoMO: fear of missing out. The acronym alone should be enough to prove to you that the phrase is attached at the hip to social media, but it’s not a term that gets hashtagged too often. It’s a symptom of excessive social media use that is a growing concern as we all use these apps more and more.

FoMO is a spectrum of social anxiety that describes the worry that your peers might be having rewarding experiences, social interactions, or opportunities without you. It’s a condition of regret and exclusion, and can lead to a compulsive need to stay connected with what others are doing.

This can have dangerous consequences. FoMO affects the way you prioritize things like a post notification during dinner, or a text while you’re driving—it makes these interruptions seem more like urgent connections. If missing out on the latest picture or invite that pops into your feed fills you with anxiety, a conscious effort to take a break from social media can work wonders.

Information Overload is Inevitable

Even if you try to stay constantly connected, your brain can only take so much. Endlessly combing through social media eventually gives your brain an information overloaded, and you stop absorbing anything you’re looking at. That’s where that familiar feeling of confusion comes from when you finally pull yourself out of a social media scrolling tunnel—the lost of time and burnt out senses mean your brain is fully saturated and needs a break.

We need downtime to absorb information. While the modern world makes it hard to step away from the data we are constantly bombarded with, it’s important to give your brain a breather. The more breaks you take, the sharper your mind will be.

There’s No Time Like the Present

A recent study showed that the average person spends at least 1 hour and 40 minutes per day looking at their favorite social media sites and apps. That’s right—almost two hours every day, which comes out to one month’s worth of time dedicated to social media every year.

Once you’ve picked your jaw up off the floor, really think about whether that whole month is worth it. Shaving off even a small amount of your screen time will can be a huge boost for your productivity and help you free up your focus for meaningful activities.

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