SuppliedWhen it comes down to it, everybody’s New Year’s resolution is to be happier and find more ways to enjoy life. But for some reason, we always seem to forget about our resolutions after just a few weeks.
Whether it’s through exercising more, eating healthier, spending more time with family, writing in a daily journal or working harder in school, our goal when making a New Year’s resolution is ultimately to be happier. The problem is, there never seems to be enough time in the day to do everything we want. Generally, by the end of January, people have given up on their resolutions and have reverted back to their old routines.
Imagine if all of the time you spent browsing Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and whatever else on your smartphone was completely cut out of your life. You would have so much more free time to do the things that, deep down, you really want to do, but you can’t seem to find time for.
If you really want to make a change in your life, the best way to do so is by transferring the amount of time and energy you spend browsing on social media on to things you actually enjoy.
Social media has great intentions. It provides a medium to share and connect with people you wouldn’t be able to interact with otherwise, making these platforms entertaining and convenient. But constantly checking for updates on things that don’t actually matter is incredibly draining. Browsing quickly turns from connecting with friends and reading interesting stories to judging and comparing yourself to others, getting into petty arguments and throwing away hours upon hours of your day, scrolling through your news feed.
Unfortunately, it’s really difficult to cut social media out completely cold turkey, because much of our lives are deeply intertwined on it. We use it to plan events, get updates on news and we use it as a large source of entertainment.
A realistic way to cut down on your idle browsing time is removing all of the applications from your phone. That way, you can still have accounts active so you can keep in touch with people and follow whatever interests you, but you don’t feel as distracted by it at all times during the day. Of course, if you can’t remove the applications because you need them for your job, change your settings around so you aren’t getting as many notifications that make you feel obligated to check your account so often.
This was my New Year’s resolution last summer. Obviously, it wasn’t actually a New Year’s resolution, but it’s worked well. It’s greatly increased the amount of time I can spend on things I enjoy, and it’s made me a much more positive person.
Last summer, I found myself waking up and idly browsing Facebook and Twitter for an hour before getting out of bed and actually doing something. When I was finally up, I would generally look at my phone more than once a minute because of various notifications that I had from any of my social media applications.
Over May long weekend, me and a few of my friends drove down to Washington for Sasquatch! Music Festival. Since I was traveling out of the country, I brought my phone along and left it in airplane mode to avoid running up massive roaming charges, but to still have a safety net just in case I ran into any problems. Even though the trip consisted of doing a lot things that I did most other summers, like camping, buying food from Wal-Mart and going to concerts, it was easily the best experience I’ve had in years.
Cutting out the distractions from my phone allowed me to truly enjoy what was happening around me. I was actually able to indulge myself in my surroundings for more than a few seconds at a time, which is something I consciously realized I wasn’t able to do at home.
When I got back from the trip, I deleted Facebook and Twitter from my phone. The difference of my summer before the trip and after the trip was massive.
I spent more time writing, working out, and going for walks, which are things I used to tell myself I didn’t have time for. I still use all of my accounts, but a lot less than I used to, which makes using those platforms more enjoyable.
Don’t let your New Year’s resolution fall through this year. Deleting social media applications from your phone will be difficult, but trading all of that negativity and monotony that comes with idle browsing for doing things you genuinely enjoy will make you a much happier person.
