mikaelanoble-cts-blog

[mikaelanoble-cts-blog]

24 Hour Social Media Blackout Experiment

I will be conducting a social experiment where I am to refrain from social media for 24 hours, or as long as I can possibly manage. I will report how the process is almost every hour that I am awake.

December 11th, 2020 3:00PM - December 12th 3:00PM

- - -

December 11th, 4:00PM - Started cleaning, refrained from jumping on Youtube to listen to music, or Instagram to browse the feed.

5:00PM - Organized closets that were long overdue. Turned off phone and popped it in the drawer.

6:00PM - Went out shopping for gifts, left phone at home.

7:00PM - Still shopping at this point, found it inconvenient to not be able to message people to ask about gifts or sizes, but I did my best.

8:00PM - Began wrapping gifts.

10:00PM - Turned phone back on to set an alarm and went to bed shortly after. Slept longer than I usually do.

December 12th, 8:00AM - Went to grab my phone and read articles as I do everyday, today however, I put the phone back down and went for a morning jog instead.

10:00AM - Took a long shower and cooked a big breakfast, I find this to be interesting because I don’t usually cook when my daughter isn’t home, I spend most of my time being lazy and on my phone. This was a good habit today that I think I might have to keep.

11:00AM - Was itching to jump on and surf my socials, I went out to finish up the shopping instead.

12:00PM - Wrapping more gifts, still refraining from phone, slightly bored of this experiment.

1:00PM - Did some laundry and read my book in between (check out the book Lullabies for Little Criminals by Heather O'Neill, incredible book.)

2:00PM - Drew some sketches that I have been planning for awhile but have put on hold.

3:00PM Experiment Completed, I could kiss my phone right now. I jumped right on to check in on how my little one was doing.

- - -

Where you able to go 24 hours without social media? Yes, I was. I went the full 24 hours without social media. It wasn’t without its difficulties as a single mom with split custody I typically rely on social media to correspond with my child’s father. I also find myself quite attached to my habits.

How did you feel during your time of being social media free? I felt bored, in my spare time I typically surf the web however in this case I had to find other things to do which I found to be quite refreshing afterwards. At the time I was annoyed with how difficult it was to break out of my normal routine.

What did you do instead? I cleaned my house, then I reorganized. I went out Christmas shopping and then I wrapped 30 gifts (a challenge, I am awful at gift wrapping). I read a book and caught up on some of my drawings.

Did you find this experiment difficult? I kind of did, honestly. I grew up using technology. I find my life to be dull and lonely when I’m not staying connected.

Do you feel your social media usage hinders you? I definitely think that it does. I could get so much more done and be healthier and happier if I limited my technology usage as a whole throughout the day.

Overall thoughts on the experiment? I think this experiment has shown me how much I spend wasting precious time meaninglessly. I think this experiment could be an eye opener for people who are curious to how much social media is really affects their lives. I would like to take this experiment and apply it to my everyday life. I could benefit from limiting my usage by half or more every day.

- - -