Media Fast/Binge

The binge part of the challenge was kind of fun for a while but it definitely got old after a day. I am a frequent user of Instagram, Facebook, and Snapchat so I was actively on all of these for the binge part of the challenge. Also I love music so I was constantly listening to music while getting ready, in my car, walking to class, etc. I usually listen to music but tried to do a little more excessively this time. My major is Advertising and Public Relations so I tend to already use social media a lot (or literally have to with my internship and classes) so it wasn’t a ton different for me but I normally try to not use social media much when I am around other people or at night when I’m going to sleep. I tried to use it every night during the binge though and found I was getting back into my old habit of staying up extra late and wasting time scrolling through Instagram and watching Snap stories- aka total waste of time and a total loss of sleep.

The fast part was NOT so easy. Since I am so connected with social media, taking a break was definitely hard for me- felt like withdrawal actually. That sounds super pathetic saying but since I am majoring in and do it for my job, it was hard. I did it over the weekend and will admit I still checked my email a few times, but for the most part tried to stay off. There was some nice parts about it too...Sometimes I feel annoyed with social media, or that I waste too much time on it, which I totally do...so it was nice to take a little break although it was hard as well. One random thing that I found I do way too much is that I look at my social media feeds when I’m at a stop light. Although it is not while I’m driving, probably not the safest. Anyway, I realized that I almost always look down at my phone at a stoplight and it has become a pretty bad habit of mine! The fast helped me realize I can cut down on that (maybe look around at my surroundings more!) as well as cut down at night as well- I probably gain a good 20-30 minutes extra sleep each night when I’m not on my phone scrolling away. :)