Three days without scrolling down, creating a post, liking or checking a notification. It is so easy when you are supposed to actually do it. I started this experiment thinking that it was going to be dull and when I got out on the other side to my surprise all of that has indeed changed both my concentration levels, my mood level and my overall relationship with my personal thoughts.
It was in the First Hour Hardest
At least twenty times in the first sixty minutes, I instinctively grabbed my phone with my hand. That automatic reflex by itself was sufficient to inform me that I was as deeply conditioned as I could be.
The Fear Came as of Immediately
Within hours there was a queer low level restlessness. Not boredom as such–rather a squeaky discomfort of not having something to look at, to compare and to eat. It was unpleasant and simultaneously fully eye opening.
By first day evening things had changed
The panic was starting to break by night. Lacking a feed to back to my brain had nowhere to go and began just being there with whatever was really happening in my very present.
Sleep Interiorly Elaborate
Night one was followed by deeper and continuous sleep than I had had in months. As though as though my mind were cleared away to the pillow, there came the pillow, calm quieter and thoroughly prepared to take its lengthy rest.
Day Two Brought Real Clarity
By day two my thought was clearer and not so overloaded. Once I was no longer bombarded with the thoughts of other people I began to pay more attention to what I actually had to say as I was speaking through the day.
Creativity Made a Matador Comedy Return
Concepts began to stream in whenever I was just idling, and that otherwise should have been scrolling time. Authentic creative thinking seems to exist in the gaps in between the stimulation that was being gently and persistently robbed from me through social media.
Comparison Lost Its Place Permanently
As soon as I stopped watching well-chosen highlight reels closely, I finally stopped comparing my life to that of everyone else. That little change of view was as easy as indeed laying aside a burden I had forgotten that I was bearing.
Live chats have improved
I was conscious in all the conversations as I did not have the choice of checking my phone. People noticed. Connection was more intense, significant, and memorable than the half-conversations I was used to, where I would be distracted halfway through.
Day Three Felt Like Freedom
On the third day, the feeling of wanting to check had virtually stopped. There was a sereness that followed that was strange and yet very, very welcome, as though my nervous system had forgotten just what it was like to be genuinely peaceful.
Coming Back to Change Everything
On day four, it was a different story of going back to social media. It was so apparent that the noise was made, so instantaneous was the comparison and the pull, that it was real nevertheless. However, at this time, I was able to see it well up close– and the realization made all the difference.
