It's been quite sometime since I last made a post on this blog. One of the biggest reason being the global pandemic that took the world and our everyday, normal lives by surprise, disrupting our routine to the extent of shaking up the very core of our lives. Travel restrictions limited us and confined us to the safety of our homes and mentally it was too much to take in. I, for one found it tough to stay cooped up in the house. I found myself either endlessly working or scrolling mindlessly on my smartphone. Nothing comforted the inner battles of isolation. There came a point when I could not stand social media platforms as I only found endless negativity. Even posts that were meant to bring about positivity seemed to sneak in sadness and the harsh realities that surrounded everyone in these difficult times. I had to save my mental strength and peace and the only way out of this, I found was...to entirely stay off the social grid.
Yes, I made the weird and the most difficult decision a millennial would make in this digital age. I pulled down my accounts on every social media platform I was present in - Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and I even stopped blogging!
I knew it was not going to be easy. You see, I was not a complete digital addict but I knew I was in the initial stages of being one. It was a red flag that set alarms ringing in my head and I made this decision of "digital detoxing". It was a tough choice given how I am used to seeing a truck load of notifications pouring out on my status bar.
I knew cutting off from social media at once would be like starting an extreme diet without letting one's body adjust to the changes. Eventually you would lose the battle and give in. Hence I decided that it would be wise to de-link, incrementally. I gave myself a gap of 3-5 months before I deleted/deactivated each of my social media accounts. It was a tough first few days trying to overcome the habit of checking my phone for notifications every now and then. My mind couldn't digest the fact that there weren't any notifications waiting for me when I picked up my phone. Many a times I was highly tempted to reinstall the apps and activate or recreate my accounts. But I knew I had to go through with this. Most of all I was curious to measure my will power. How far would I go with this? Did I really have it in me to go through with this? or would I give in to the cruel digital temptations?
Fast forward to this day and it's been close to a year-and-a-half since I deleted my Twitter account, close to a year since I deleted my Facebook account and it's about six months since I deactivated my Instagram accounts. Trust me when I say this, it feels amazing not having these distractions around me. I realized how much of my valuable time I was pouring on these platforms for things that didn't really matter. Okay, so let me tell you one more thing about me. I maintain this book each year wherein I create a list of few things that I want to achieve by the end of that year. I confess that all these years I could at most check off 2 things on this list. But this year, to my surprise, I could check off 8 out of 10 things that I wanted to achieve! I think getting off social media platforms was one of the best decisions I've made so far.
There were a few friends of mine who reached out to my parents and my husband checking up on me, wondering if I were alright. I thank you guys for your honest concerns and through this post I wanted to make it clear the reason behind my social media disappearances. I know it is important to be present on at least some of these platforms, to stay relevant and to "stay in touch", but come to think of it, I think I now know which ones I would choose to come back to. I already am back blogging so you can now expect a steady flow of posts wherein I will bring to you my exciting journey this past one year - all that I wanted to personally achieve and experience and many more stories I want to share with you all. And yes in due time I will share with you one of the MOST memorable, crazy bike ride that my husband and I took upon, which even till date, when we share it with someone, ends us up with the name THE MENTALS!!!
So stay tuned and look out for new posts coming your way soon.
Until then, take care and stay safe.
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