The Social Struggle

Collecting and analyzing data can be tedious for most, but data is everywhere. Every job we apply for, our personal information, and everything we enjoy can be reduced to a collection of data. For this particular detox, I chose to ban myself from all social media for five days to more closely examine the relationship between my phone usage and social media activity. I could have chosen to abandon other practices, but my family is distant so remaining in close contact is important to me. In this experiment, I programmed my phone to limit my social media usage to “1 minute per day,” mostly to remind myself not to open the apps (the settings won’t allow a limit of less than one minute). When I started this experiment, I thought “I don’t use social media often so I should include all social apps in this ban.” Turns out, I use social media more than I thought. I often scroll through endless TikTok videos before falling asleep (a terrible habit, I know), and like my way through Facebook and Instagram posts to keep up with old friends. (I am lame and do not possess a Twitter account). More unexpectedly, I missed receiving random nonsensical snaps from friends on Snapchat. Often just pictures of the snow on their streets or their new work gigs, these snaps turned into something I didn’t even realize I would miss.

After looking at the data from my phone (you can see the screenshots above), I discovered my phone usage from the days before the experiment was astounding. In the graphic above, you can clearly note the usage from Saturday to Saturday (a total of eight days), but this does not include the Friday before. Friday, February 5, I consumed a total of more than four and a half hours on my phone screen, mostly on social media. Now, the next day (Saturday), I “only” used about three and a half hours of screen time, yet the graphic clearly shows that the most-used app was still TikTok. Monday, though not an official day of the experiment, I spent my free time in a photo shoot for a friend. Tuesday began the first-ish day of this experiment, though I honestly forgot the ban until later in the day when I changed my settings to limit my usage to a minute. On Tuesday, I primarily dedicated my time to editing the photographs from the day before.

Officially, I consider Wednesday to be the first day of the experiment, and today (Sunday) I am still under such obligations. The first two days of the experiment, I felt very much the same. I don’t often sleep well (probably from scrolling social media pre-sleep) and I feel rather unproductive during the day. Wednesday morning as I awoke, I opened Facebook but quickly realized that I wasn’t supposed to be on social media and closed the app. I felt almost ashamed that it was such an ingrained habit to immediately check Facebook, but I hadn’t particularly paid attention to my social media activity. Wednesday and Thursday I had this urge to reach out for my phone, in search of a monotonous and numbing scroll through other people’s drama. My problems aren’t so bad when other people have problems, right?

However, Friday I woke up feeling oddly refreshed. Not necessarily the type of refreshed where you feel like a brand new person, but more rested than I would usually feel. Productivity-wise, I probably accomplished a little more than usual, but it felt relatively the same. Saturday afternoon I realized I had accomplished more than usual in a shorter amount of time. Saturday was another day off from work and I usually can’t wake myself up these days, but I woke up relatively early. By 10:00 AM, I had edited and uploaded two entire blogs, something I don’t usually complete until Sunday afternoon. After that, I realized I had an insane amount of free time I usually dedicate to TikTok. I could waste hours each day postponing constructive activities by scrolling social media. I decided to start reading a book titled The Business Side of Creativity: The Complete Guide to Running a Graphic Design or Communications Business. I only made my way through about a chapter and a half before being called to a family emergency, but I still accomplished much more this week than in previous weeks.

The data from yesterday (Saturday) reports phone usage for about two and a half hours, due to my brother using my phone to record videos for a YouTube video. I wouldn’t have initially thought I could abandon my phone for almost two hours for his personal use before this experiment, but I was hardly attached to the device by the end of the week. Generally, it takes about one to two months before habits are formed. I will be honest: I still sometimes have urges to scroll through posts while on my lunch break or when I want to procrastinate, but the urges are much less intense and easier to ignore. Before this, I genuinely thought I mostly used my phone for contacting family and occasionally checking social media. Most of this week without access to social media, I spent less than an hour on my phone. The week prior, I spent at minimum three hours actively facing my phone. Although productivity is relatively hard to measure, I feel more productive than the previous two weeks. Overall, I feel more connected to the people around me as I’ve been forced to socialize more and a touch more satisfied by the content I’ve created.