Within the past couple of years I have found myself to going back and fourth between keeping and deleting my social media apps.

I keep the accounts because they are a huge source of communication for not only keeping in touch with friends & family, but it also acts as a main information source for the groups and clubs that I am a part of.

I feel as though if I were to delete the accounts forever, then I would be less likely to receive up-to-date notifications, and as a result of that I would lose out on valuable notifying information.

Things I love about social media:

• Connection with friends that live around the world
• I can keep in touch with others
• It’s a fast communication source
• Tagging friends in memes
• Getting news/stories
• Seeing what my family members are up to

Things I don’t enjoy about social media:

• Social comparison
• How our lives are an illusion of only the good/happy times
• Advertisements
• Real vs. fake images
• The gossip
• The shaming
• The judgement
• Finding out all details about someone before meeting them in person

Instagram is my favourite social media site by far, but more recently I find myself spending more and more time off the app. I accredit this disinterest due to the photos no longer appearing in chronological order on my timeline.

Last Tuesday I took a bold move by deciding to delete Snapchat, Instagram & Facebook from my phone. I still have the Messenger App, but that is simply because I use it as a communication source and not as a place to mindlessly scroll through a feed for hours.

Whenever there is a pause in my life I reach my hand into my pocket to pull out my cell phone and scroll through endless photos to fill the time. I’ve noticed that I spend less time with my thoughts, and more time in this virtual reality.

Social media is a space where our minds go numb and our lives become validated by the “likes” of others. I chose to remove myself from the apps for a week in order to see what effect it had in my life, and if I truly experienced the FOMO (fear of missing out) from the lake of app interaction.

“Likes” are becoming the norm of how we validate ourselves

No wonder depression rates are increasing year to year; we constantly have access to the lives we wish we had, and subconsciously compare our personal experiences to the experiences of others. Social media does not remind me of  what I am fortunate to have in my life, but instead it always reminds me what I don’t have in my life.

I don’t have the #relationshipgoals or the #fitspiration body. I don’t have the money to go on vacations, or the perfect lighting for a selfie. But do all those things necessarily matter, or are we encouraged to prioritize those #goals over things that should matter like happiness, being grateful & living in the moment?

People forget to truly live in the moment

It is all about getting the “instagram worthy” shot. Think about it, when is the last time you saw a beautiful sunset and didn’t upload it to your Snapchat story? Or when was the last time you ate something at a restaurant and chose not to adjust your place and take a photo of it to share before you dug into the plate?

When something happens in our lives we are quick to take out our phone and document it. The images we take are not just to keep for our own personal memory, but more often than not it is used to share on feeds, stories and timelines.

Everyone knows what you are up to, the things you eat, the places you go visit, and the people who you are with. Absolute privacy doesn’t seem to exist anymore.

So now that you know my thoughts on social media, I challenge you to join me on a social media-less week. No Facebook, no Instagram, no Twitter, no Snapchat. Use this week to cleanse and be present in the moment. Try it and see the difference it may make

Comment below to let me know if you will try it! Good luck.

-Liv