For a while, the only posts on the Instagram timeline were videos and screenshots of death and violence. While they were informing, these posts started to creep into my mind and cause me to be fearful of the environment around me. So that’s when I decided to take a break from social media.
Social media is a very strong tool. It can be used to inform, connect people, and advertising around the world. It can reach anyone who has access to it, which is why many people started to post about the injustice that has been happening around the world. Videos of people dying were one of the main topics trending on social media because people would see it and repost it.
At first, I liked how people were informing each other on what is going on and keeping people updated until social media started to seem like it was just a dark hole of ongoing violence. I would scroll and only see angry captions and sickening videos of the world falling apart.
After #BlackoutTuesday, I never wanted to scroll on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook ever again. I was too heartbroken from watching people go through this heart-wrenching pain. So, I deleted each app off my phone.
Yes, this was difficult because I like being informed and have the knowledge of what is going on around me. However, I had to put my mental health first, and deleting the thing that was causing my emotional drain was the way to go.
So now that you know why I deleted social media, here are some things you need to look out for in yourself to see if you need a break from it as well, (don’t worry, you can always bring it back when need be):
1/ when you start to feel emotionally drained once you close any social media app
2/ when you feel yourself getting frustrated with seeing constant anger/sadness over and over again
3/ when you feel you need to immediately come off of social media because of what you have seen
There may be many other things that your body may do to indicate that it’s time to come offline for a little bit, so always trust what your gut is telling you at that moment.
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