I'm Giving Up Social Media For An Entire Year | The Odyssey Online
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Politics and Activism

I'm Giving Up Social Media For An Entire Year

Why I'm giving up every social media platform for an entire year.

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I'm Giving Up Social Media For An Entire Year
Julie Bentley

Lately, I have been feeling an array of emotions. Extreme sadness, anger and rage, stress, anxiety. I had never experienced something this bizarre and heavy in my life.

One night when I was trying to think of anything but what I was feeling, I stumbled across an article on Pinterest (of course) titled "Dear Christian, It's Okay To Not Be Okay," which obviously grabbed my attention. I read it and the writer mentioned something about when she's upset, she tries to find herself. That also stood out to me. I tried to target and pinpoint all the things that could be cause these feelings of bizarre emotions.

The first thing my mind went to was social media. I didn't feel pleasure or happiness by going on social media, it's almost like how a person needs a cigarette but doesn't even like to smoke. It's just a habit they have formed and they can't stop. Social media is such a negative place now; it's a platform used to tear people down and socially abuse people (and trust me I have been both the victim and the bully.) That's why I have decided to create (or at least I think I created, but probably not, we can just say I created this locally) a challenge called "The One Year Challenge."

I will be giving up every social media platform I have (Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, and Tumblr) aside from the post that are made when posting these articles, for an entire year. During this time I will be documenting my experience of not having any social media platforms available. Will it affect me positively or negatively?

I'm using this time to devote a large majority of my time to God and learn His ways and walk in them more affectively. I think it's best to do this when your mind is unplugged and you're not stopping in the middle of your quiet time to check Twitter or how many likes your post in Insta got. In this generation, we have brainwashed ourselves to think we need social media to be heard, to make a difference, to make an impact on people's life.

That may be true to some people, but in my unpopular opinion (as always) I think it's a load of garbage. I'm here to prove myself wrong because I thought that for the longest time and am just now learning that it's not true. You don't need a social media platform to sit behind to be heard and make a difference in the world. You do it, by going out into the world itself. I'm very nervous and so excited about this challenge. I'm super stoked to "live under a rock" for a whole year and devote it to spending time with the maker and mover of mountains and my friends and family. If God can sacrifice His only son to die on a rugged cross, then I can give up social media which is filled of negativity and idiotic slurs. If you're brave, I encourage you to take on this challenge as well and see how it affects you. But I ask that you pray that I would find myself during this journey.

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This article has not been reviewed by Odyssey HQ and solely reflects the ideas and opinions of the creator.
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