3 Reasons Why You Should Do Social Media Detox

You may have noticed that sometimes endless scrolling on social media can make you feel bad about yourself because you find yourself constantly comparing your lives to the lives of others, or at least how they are portrayed on social media. If you have experienced the above or find it relatable, you might want to consider a social media detox, which involves taking a break from your social media platforms. If you are still undecided, here are some reasons why you should consider a social media cleanse.

1. To improve your physical health
   Spending too much time on social media can interfere with our sleep. We frequently find ourselves mindlessly scrolling through social media while lying in bed. While this behaviour fills your time, it also disrupts your sleep cycle by depriving you of much needed sleep time. Sleep deprivation has been shown to affect your mood and appetite. Furthermore, experts believe that exposure to bright screens during sleep can also be a cause of sleep disruption.

2. To increase your productivity
   Many people are proud of their ability to juggle between tasks at hand and social media scrolling. However, this could be an illusion. We may unconsciously spend a little too much time on social media when it appears to be only a short while. These lapses wastes something that we can never get back: time. It also causes us to spend more time completing tasks that could have been done faster if we didn’t spend time on social media. The Cleveland Clinic claims that when our brain is constantly switching gears to jump between tasks, especially when those tasks are complex and call for our active attention, we become less effective and more likely to make a mistake.

3. To improve your mental health
   According to research (turned into published work in the Journal of Depression and Anxiety) from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine in Pennsylvania, social media use among young adults significantly increases the prevalence of anxiety and depression. One of the contributing factors, according to experts, is that constant social media presence creates an artificial need to respond to messages instantly. This need creates a false sense of urgency and can cause minor stress. This can have a negative impact on one’s emotional and mental health.