As an avid social media junkie, I’m first to defend the countless digital platforms that allow us to obtain information and news, connect with friends and family, express our personal interests and identities, and so much more. Even as a millennial I cherish Facebook for letting me chat with extended family to plan get-togethers and share my general ongoings. Instagram lends to my much more artistic side, chartering my less than professional selfies and Twitter is my mecca for expressing my political, social, and personal feelings and beliefs.

With that said, I’ve heard so many stories of people ridding their lives of social media for mental health and happiness reasons. While I’ve always applauded these people I never thought it was a direction I would want to take. Occasionally I would go through spurts of deleting my Instagram app, finding myself self-loathing over celebrities and models under Explore, but eventually I’d cave, re-downloading it to be back in the loop with just about every other millennial in America.

However, whether I’m willing to blame a recent breakup or cite a social cleanse, I deleted my Snapchat app about three weeks ago and I couldn’t be happier. After stalking people on SnapMap and constantly checking to see who had viewed my story or posted to their own, I knew I needed a real reality check surrounding my own self health.

I realized I am so much more than the guy who I religiously checked to see his location on Snapmap, wondering if he was at work, at home, or with friends despite telling me he didn’t have time for a relationship. I am so much more than the fake friends who would post on their stories, disclosing the plans I was clearly excluded from even after asking to be kept in the loop. And, I am SO much more than the guys who would chat me inappropriate comments on a picture I would post of myself.

Unconvinced at first, I expected myself to surrender to the so called “social media syndrome” and fall back into the world of filters, effects, snaps, and streaks, but with each day that passed I felt a little more of the weight of social conformity lift from my shoulders. I was enjoying the freedom of having my time be between myself and those who I’d physically interacted with. It was refreshing to lay down at the end of the day and reflect on what I had done, without a synopsis of what everyone else’s day looked like, mind you only the parts they wanted me to see.

Sure, my friends would pester me about “snapping” them back to which I’d respond that I deleted the app, and it took my first few “good for you’s” to realize how much happier and healthier I had become. But, the satisfaction that I was doing this for me, for the right reasons, overruled any moments of frustration, feeling left out, or missed moments that I felt I faced.

Even though I still regularly use other social media sites, eliminating one that I was able to pin point back to my own reoccurring stress, insecurity, and procrastination has worked wonders. I think Snapchat is a great technological tool. It’s fun and modern and rapidly innovating, but it’s important to recognize when your mental health feels compromised.

I know that I am better off without it, and I refuse to accept defeat to fomo (fear of missing out). I urge you to reflect on how your social media makes you feel, and encourage you to start the New Year as your most social savvy yet healthy self!