Being a young adult in today's world means we are constantly bombarded with stimulation. Iphones, tablets, laptops, TVs, hell even our watches can give us up to date info from all around the world. But is all this stimulation really good for us? Yes being connected and being aware of things happening around the world can be great, but is staring at a screen all day looking at Spongebob memes, the newest celebrity diet trend or your crazy family member's political rants good for us?
If you are feeling overwhelmed with it all then you should consider taking a media detox. What the heck is a media detox??
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Okay so when I first saw this I was super pumped about it. The last few weeks I have felt very overwhelmed with life in general and the fact that it is summer meant I was definitely spending more time on media than most of the year. But when I actually thought about starting this a week ago I realized I needed to define what media is. The Webster definition is "the system and organizations of communication through which information is spread to a large number of people." So what? I decided that for me media was going to include all forms of social media very strictly, TV, and radio. I was not going to include emails (I'm a student about to start the semester there is important info coming in!), texts or books.
Day one was easy and honestly very refreshing. I was Facebook friends with some people who I hadn't seen or talked to in 5+ years. It took only about 15 minutes for me to go through and get rid of a lot of people who I honestly no longer need to know every detail about their life. #Sorrynotsorry.
Day two, three and four were also relatively easy and refreshing. It was so nice to start my day without instantly seeing how hard everyone partied last night or the girl I sat next to for one semester in math class's new selfie. On my way to morning cross-country practice instead of listening to the radio in the car I took the time to think about my upcoming day and how nice the weather was. After practice when I was eating with my teammates I was actually paying attention to everything they said and paying attention to what I was eating. I was also able to fall asleep faster on day four since I wasn't laying in bed staring at a screen. In short I was actually able to present in the here and now.
Day five and six were a little rough. I honestly kind of forgot about the challenge. Day five I wasn't totally mindful of how many things I read or watched. And day six was sort of meaningless for me, I get most of my media from my phone so I don't really have tabs open.
Day seven was the big day I had been thinking about all week. To be totally honest I cheated a little. I had to drive four hours round trip that day and so I obviously couldn't be on my phone for any of that. I also cheated because when I got home that evening I did watch some TV. But most importantly for me I stayed off social media ALL day. Even when I had 7 Facebook notifications I did not budge. And it honestly was not that hard. It was weird but in a refreshing way.
Honestly I am so glad I did this challenge, especially the week before school started. I feel refreshed and renewed. But I think that it can't just stop here. This week has shown me how much exposure I have to media, especially social media, and it's unhealthy. No I'm not going to go cold turkey and throw out my phone. But I am going to make a conscious effort to be more mindful and present in the here. I've decided that for the first 30 minutes after I've woken up and the 30 minutes before bed I am going to be media free as best as possible. It made such an obvious difference in my mood and sleep that it would be stupid not to incorporate it into my daily life somehow.
So if you are feeling overwhelmed with everything the world throws at you through media or if you just feel up to the challenge try the week long detox. You might just be surprised how different your day is without it!
