"Instragram Dat Joint!"

I decided to test myself. As an avid Social Media user, I often was sucked into using technology to kill time throughout my days. Although not nearly as bad as other teenagers, the fact that I even had the thought to use my phone when all the opportunities life offers is right in front of me just boggles my mind on how addicted I have become.

Last August, I shut myself from all social media feeds except Facebook (but only for message purposes, no scrolling). On my phone, I deleted my Instagram app, Twitter, Snapchat, Tumblr, Vine, and whatever else I had downloaded. I wanted to see how far I could really go without the constant use of my phone and if I could even last with this long of a stretch.

For 30 days, it was truly a great experience. Usually I would test myself for a day, a few days and at most a week without social media but this month long absence was new to me, but definitely challenging. Without the constant use of my phone, you realize how much greater the world can be. I spent that month reading, bonding with friends, spending more time with my family and getting pumped up for college. I accomplished fitness goals, writing goals, and spent a lot more time alone thinking about my life and what I really wanted to accomplish.

The reason I'm writing about this now is that a few months has passed and I was slowly going back into the habit of using social media whenever I was bored when I could really be more productive. Over this past week, I was actively occupied with AIESEC's Winter National Conference that I really did not have time to scroll through social feeds. Every day was intensely eventful that kept me busy and active which was the lifestyle I enjoyed. This absence of social media reminded me how much more life I lived without social media and how it played such a huge impact on my life. 

For the record, I do not believe social media is bad but I have to admit, it really gets annoying when you have dinner with your friends and I can't talk to anyone because everyone is worried about other people's tweets and photos they could potentially miss out on.