Social media has been around for over 20 years now, and lately it has become more and more toxic as time passes and technology continues to advance. Aside from political memes and being witness to everything people say and do at any given moment, it also highlights some posts and photos people share that are outright fake. Tons of influencers with fitness pages are “outed” for being fake and misleading for padding their pants to make their glutes appear fuller and more defined, making the average person feel less than for not being able to achieve the same results from following their programs.  Or they tweak their lighting and camera to appear more perfect. Other types of influencers heavily filter their photos and videos to give their audience the appearance that everything in their life is flawless and perfect. Celebrities are also known to do this very often and even get called out for photoshopping their photos, to appear skinnier or their skin look smoother. Sometimes it’s difficult to scroll through Instagram or Facebook and see unedited images, or really anything that would make the average person happy.

It has been said that social media causes people, particularly young adults, to suffer more anxiety and depression, because of the constant reminders of everyone’s highlight reels that people tend to compare themselves to. Social media is also an addiction. People can spend hours just scrolling through video after video and photo after photo and at the end of the day, feel not only that they wasted so much of their day absorbing pretty much nothing but nonsense but also feeling bad about themselves. 

Over the past few years my social media presence has dwindled. I used to enjoy these platforms so much more when I was witnessing or at least when I thought I was witnessing real stories and real people. It was a great way to keep in touch with family and friends that live far away and are consumed with their jobs, family, social life and unable to meet up as often. Somewhere over the past few years, social media has become so toxic that I try hard not to log on to it, and when I do, I don’t allow myself more than 3-5 minutes of scrolling time. It just was more of a habit than anything else. I follow a few people that help keep me up to date with my celebrity gossip and news/politics but other than that I try not to go down the detrimental rabbit hole of people complaining, or showing off, or attempting to cancel the average Joe in the supermarket or creating videos just to make money off regular people. 

“We’re only here for a short while, don’t waste it scrolling.”


It’s difficult to build a brand or business without any kind of social media presence. Sometimes I wish that social media would only be for brands or businesses because of how toxic the platforms and the people that obsess over it have become. I honestly don’t know anyone that enjoys social media, it’s just a way to keep up with the joneses so to speak. 

A while back I read a story regarding Oppenheimer director, Christopher Nolan. He discussed how he refuses to have a smartphone because he does a lot of his best thinking in the in-between moments that people fill with online activity. He also said that he’s easily distracted, and he didn’t really want to have access to the internet when he’s bored. He also uses a computer with no internet connection to write his scripts to keep him focused. So, while the rest of the world is wasting time scrolling platforms and surfing the web, he’s creating one academy award nominated film after another. I became inspired and motivated to dedicate one full week of no social media scrolling and no games. A digital detox, if you will. 
A few weeks ago, I mentally prepared myself to not login to a single social media platform, for a full 7 days. I’m only on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter, I gave up Snapchat a long time ago and I never got into TikTok because I knew I’d get sucked in, because I too am easily distracted. I was off from work for the week and decided it would be the perfect time to fill my days with more meaning. I also deleted all the games I had on my phone that would always keep me busy when I didn’t want to scroll on my phone. 

Those 7 days of digital detoxing I finished an entire book, reorganized my kitchen, got all my Christmas shopping and wrapping done, challenged myself to more Italian lessons on Duolingo, built a cat teepee for my kitty and completely engulfed myself in an 8-episode Netflix show, without any interruptions. I also spent 4 of those days in the gym for at least an hour of strength training and 15 minutes of meditation in the sauna. I not only had tons of time on my hands to do so much more but I also was present a lot more with my husband. We went to dinner and a movie on my last night of detoxing, and I didn’t look at my phone once during our entire meal or film. I felt free. I suddenly realized how much I don’t really care about scrolling. Don’t get me wrong, I did have my moments of weakness. I missed the few influencers I follow and the news updates whether it’s celebrity or political or general news, I did feel a bit in the dark. I remained strong the entire week. But once the detox was over and I was able to log back in, I noticed myself holding back more and more from grabbing my phone. It’s nice to live in the present moment and not have to be enamored with what everyone else is doing and what you’re missing out on, because chances are you’re not missing anything. 

In closing, I encourage you to take some time in the new year to become more present and immerse yourself in hobbies or activities that make you happy and relaxed. Try challenging yourself to a day, or week to some form of digital detox, and let me know in the comments below how it goes! I hope I have inspired or motivated you to put your phone down and be more present with the people in your life that matter. We’re only here for a short while, don’t waste it scrolling.