In 2019, I decided to do a social media detox and for six months I didn't access any of the apps that consumed a large part of my day. So much for WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok, Tinder... all of them, I even deleted the apps with insistent push notifications that made me check the day's offer and lose 5 minutes. During this period, my time was gradually taken up by other activities, some of which were much more pleasurable, became habits and are still present today, such as meditating twice a day, reading before bed, waking up in less of a hurry to find out the news from the night before and also discovering the power of Podcasts on my commute, instead of dangerously typing while driving.
I came back at the insistence of friends who asked me to be there, I came back because of work needs, since many decisions are made via Whatsapp or opportunities to interact with consumers arise on the networks, I came back because I missed the networks. In any case, I knew that the detox period was temporary and I enjoyed every minute of it. I knew that the anxiety of checking the app to see if my message had already been replied to or comparing the success of a post by the number of likes would return at any moment and that it really is impossible to remain oblivious to it all. But what can I learn during this period? How can I use social media better and make the most of the content I'm exposed to?
Alain de Botton, a Swiss philosopher, wrote that the accelerated buzz of social media has penetrated us (actually, this essay was about the impact of the news on our lives, but I've taken the liberty of replacing the concept 'news' with 'social media'), nowadays, it's a feat to have a moment of calm, it's a miracle to fall asleep or talk to a friend without being distracted. And what discipline it takes to turn our attention away from the whirlwind of content and, for an entire day, listen only to the rain and our own thoughts. Perhaps society needs help to deal with the consequences of this exposure: joy and frustration, everything we've had access to but sometimes would have been better off not knowing.
I don't know if society wants to be saved, but I wanted it in 2019 and I still want it!
The first thing I learned was to better select my sources of information: I got rid of unnecessary WhatsApp groups, the perfect lives of strangers on my Instagram and, at the same time, I added new ones, preferably people who weren't part of my circle and who thought differently from me. It sounds strange, but it works. Getting out of my internet bubble has made me make better use of the networks. Why not follow people with different political opinions? Artists you don't share the same taste or professionals who follow different lines of thought from the ones you admire? This decision made me uncomfortable at many moments, but it also made me reflect on who I am and why.
I have groups of marketing professionals on WhatsApp who make me improve every day, I use Instagram to find out what different tribes think about the same subject and refine my point of view, I get insights from texts shared via LinkedIn. This is how I keep up to date and, in a way, close to all these people, ready for personal contact if I need to go deeper.
Finally, knowing that there are times when social media should be kept away, being present during meetings with friends and family, focusing on a phone conversation (instead of putting it on speaker and checking some app, yes I've done that many times and replied to friends with an 'ahem') or enjoying a dinner without having to share the dish on social media. These moments are important and the attention I give is the attention I receive. I know, there is often a lack of subject matter and you desperately want to say something interesting and the web provides you with that, but the pause needs to be normalized, there is a learning process in silence, we are not babies chasing stimuli 24 hours a day. Knowing when it's time to switch off, when the networks no longer have anything original to offer me, was a gift from the detox. I discovered that I need long wireless moments to make the most of the connection, that the screen deserves to be turned off so that I can enjoy my private landscapes.
