A few days ago I set a 30-day challenge for myself to quit using Facebook and Twitter. My motivation for this was 2 fold.
- To better spend my time than mindlessly checking Facebook and Twitter every few minutes.
- Avoid all the negative content and comments I see daily that were polluting my thoughts.
I felt I had become addicted to social media, without even thinking I would be checking my phone to see the latest on Twitter and Facebook all day long and in any situation. And while there is a lot of great content on these platforms it was overtaking my day, controlling me and my actions like someone addicted to smoking. Once I recognized this I decided it was time to take action. So here’s the plan.
- Completely stop checking Facebook, Twitter, or any other social media site for 30 days. I would also only check news sites like Hacker News, CNN, and a few industry sites I visit twice a day with a 20-minute limit. The only exceptions to this rule would be to post content to the platforms that I create.
With the time I free up, I plan on creating content rather than consuming content. This includes writing blog posts like the one you are reading now to share my entrepreneurial experiences and to write more blog posts on my business’s blog to help promote it.
In the last few days, I have caught myself unlocking my phone to check Facebook and Twitter even though I have deleted the apps. If this wasn’t a sign I was addicted then I don’t know what is. I now recognize this behavior and makes me want to even more limit my usage.
After 30 days I do plan to go back to using Facebook and Twitter but in a very limited fashion and not leaving them open on my desktop all day long or checking my phone every few minutes.
I’m on day 3 currently and can already tell a difference. In my free time, I have already written over 3000 words of blog post content. I’ll do a follow-up post after the 30 days which should be around November 18th, 2016.