by Steven Vukaj, Product Specialist
This may come off as ironic, since you are probably reading this on a smartphone; however, it is important to sometimes turn the screens off and put them down. When living in a modern, tech-savvy world, our phones become a large part of our lives. Every day, we scroll through our phones mindlessly, going through social media platforms like Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, and more. We may even use our phones to do daily tasks like paying for our morning coffee, creating a list of groceries, and more. While some things are essential, like the items previously listed, others, like social media, are not.
As someone who is part of GenZ, it has become part of our culture to be involved with social media, having accounts on several platforms and interacting with others on a daily basis. While social media is great for connecting with others and providing a source of entertainment at our fingertips, it can also become mentally debilitating. Scrolling through these apps may sometimes leave us feeling down, comparing ourselves to others, and wondering how you can be just as good as someone else. In a virtual world full of filters, it is essential to understand that social media might not be all that it portrays itself to be. With that, we should definitely give ourselves a break every once in a while.
Whenever I begin to feel overwhelmed with what is going on around me, I tend to give myself a cleanse, ridding myself from scrolling endlessly on social media. Typically, every month or so, I give myself a week off of social media. There probably won’t be anything I am missing out on anyway, so I will usually put these apps on hold for a week or so. By doing this, I like to delete the apps entirely from my phone (don’t fret, you could always redownload them!). To fill in the gap, I rediscover hobbies that I always enjoy taking part in. Whether it’s finding a new recipe to cook, a new show to binge-watch, or taking part in nature and finding a new trail to hike on, I love to remind myself of the different aspects life has to offer. Some other ideas that come to mind include calling up a friend to hangout, find a new restaurant you have been wanting to try, and reading a new book! It is important to remind yourself of the plethora of different activities we can partake in during our free time. Live life to the fullest!