Is taking a Social Media Break Worth it?
Mateo Baeza looking at Instagram in pure and utter excitement
Social media can be a great tool when used correctly and in moderation, but when used irresponsibly and excessively, studies show it can be harmful.
“It’s a tricky thing because I think social media can be a great thing and a great resource for a lot of different things. I do think that it puts extra pressure on everybody, but especially high school students as they’re trying to figure out who they are. I think that there’s extra pressures that come because of that. I think it can be dangerous too,” Counselor Creshel Hill said.
It is kind of funny to realize that back not even 20 years ago, kids didn’t have social media as a crutch to help cope with their everyday problems. As said by Mrs. Hill, “Social media can be a great tool, but when students get used to using it as a ‘crutch’ it can become unhealthy and cause various mental conditions and stresses.”
“There’s quite a bit of research that shows that taking a 7-10 day social media break can cause a significant increase in motivation, and a significant increase in mood,” Hill said.
When somebody is separated from social media, they have to start relying on hobbies and tasks that require multiple senses in order to be entertained. It can also help you become less anxious overall, sleep better, become less irritable, etc. It’s because your eyes aren’t constantly being exposed to blue light.
“One of the things I’m a huge fan of is grounding stuff. Grounding is anything that you do on purpose using your senses. The more senses you can use, the better it is for you. Social media is generally very visual. Sometimes it is audible…anything you can do using more than two of your senses on purpose is an amazing way to find something to replace social media,” Hill said.
Although we know social media is not healthy in excess amounts, it was obviously made for a positive purpose. Social media does not have to become an addictive habit.
“If you change even your intent with social media to ‘I’m doing this on purpose. I’m looking at this on purpose for a designated amount of time, or I’m looking for certain things’ then it changes it. You’re using a different wire in your brain,” Hill said.
Many students have taken initiative and had their own break from social media. Although it can be difficult, it seems to be worth it in the end.
“It was good but also hard at the same time. For like the first week it kind of sucked because being on social media is just a habit, but then it felt really nice because I didn’t have to deal with all the fake stuff that’s on there,” Senior Sarah Jane Hansen said.
