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What are you afraid of?

I talked about leaving social media for probably five years before I finally hit a breaking point. Let me do some sad math for you. That means I wasted nearly 8 months of my life scrolling an infinite feed of other people’s lives. And that is probably a conservative estimate.

The toll this had on my mental health was astounding. I never felt like I was enough. I was always watching other people live a life that I thought I wanted. I wasn’t even looking up at the beautiful life that I had right in front of me. I would use my phone as as a pacifier when I was feeling blue, but instead of coping with my feelings, this would only compound them.

Is scrolling the new comfort food?

Since quitting social media this past summer, I quite literally do not miss it. I don’t miss Instagram stories. I don’t miss Facebook posts. I don’t miss the endless infinite scroll of watching other people’s highlight reels.

I’ve logged in a couple times over the last six months to “check in,” and do you want to know what’s wild? Each time I’ve done one of these “check-ins,” I am increasingly more and more bored with the experience. The dopamine just doesn’t hit the same. I haven’t felt the urge to log in for weeks. I thought I would be missing out on so much, but the opposite is true.

The Fear Of Missing Out fallacy

I am living my own real and tangible life. Is it all sunshine and rainbows? Of course not. I still have hard days and sad days and anxious days. But I don’t dull those feelings in a dopamine bath. I don’t check-out from my experiences. I let myself be sad. I put the effort into having a better day the next day.

What are you afraid of?

Does your job rely on social media? Set clear and firm boundaries about what you use, when you use it, and how you use it.

Are you worried you’ll be out of the loop? Find healthy sources to read the news with depth. Let go of the notion that you need to know every "trend” or “viral meme.” They change by the hourly, and it will never be healthy to try and keep up.

Will you feel lonely? Stop pretending that commenting on your friends pictures is real connection, that watching other people’s lives is the same as living your own life. Make plans in-person, call your people, get out into the real world.

I challenge you to do something today. Open the settings on your phone and look at your average daily time spent on your phone. Now, calculate how much time you’ve wasted this year. How much time of your one, wild and precious life have you spent staring at a small, black box?

What do you want that number to look like next year? Is there a number you’d feel is more reasonable? Write that down.

What is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?

Take your life back in 2025

I won’t lie to you. Making changes to your habits is hard work. Making changes to your phone habits is especially challenging. The majority of people cannot simply “unplug.” It’s much more nuanced than that.

You must learn to use your phone as a tool. To stop letting it use you.

Your phone is a tool. Use it like one.

Let me help. Upgrade to our paid subscription tier ($5/mo or $50/year) and you’ll gain access to our 35-day email detox program.

This is more than participating in Dry January. This is bigger than a sugar detox or a juice cleanse. The Break Free Detox program will teach you how to reshape your relationship with technology and start using your phone as a tool.

When your 35-days are up, you’ll come out the other end as a changed person. You’ll create a relationship with your phone that works FOR YOU. Your phone will no longer control your actions, rather you’ll be able to experience your life with your phone.

Technology is a gift, but it should never get in the way of you living your own true life. It should make your life easier, not harder. Learn to take back the control and use it to compliment your life instead of ruling your life.

Tomorrow begins a new year, it’s a fresh slate, it’s your opportunity to use the momentum of change in your favor. 23% of adults quit their New Year’s goals by the end of the first week of January, and by the end of the month, another 20% have given up (source). Don’t let that be you. Join our program and set yourself up for lasting change.

What do you say? Are you ready or what?