As ironic as it feels to be talking about a digital detox on a blog post which many of you will have stumbled across on your own hand held devices, this weeks blog post is about taking time to step away from our mobile devices and social media.

Last Saturday (5th September) I participated in the digital detox day run by the mental health charity for young people; I am Whole.

The Royal Society Of Public Health found social media is more addictive than smoking and alcohol and that using social media for more than two hours per day is associated with poor self-rating of mental health, increased levels of psychological distress and suicidal ideation.

And with young people saying 4/5 most popular platforms increase anxiety

ISN’T IT TIME WE TOOK A STEP BACK TO REEVALUATE OUR RELATIONSHIP WITH OUR DEVICES?

Quote taken from I am whole website

The idea of the day was to step away from social media for a whole day and use the time to go out and meet loved ones and encourage us to take more time away from our screens in our day to day lives.

Admittedly I did go and meet friends, but for me I wanted to just see how much I’d notice that I wasn’t using social media apps for a day as I’m not someone who sees themselves as addicted to a phone. I used to regularly go entire weekends hiking without looking at my phone or taking one so I thought it would be easy.

I still had my phone on me, and when I found myself sat eating breakfast or waiting for the kettle to boil, my thumb would be reaching for the apps.

Not being able to zone out on my phone on Instagram made me get up and go do more!

The day made me realise how much time I spend on social media and even though I often use it for my blog account or for networking I’m still wasting time away and comparing my life to others which is not good for my mental well-being.

Taking part in digital detox day has encouraged me to dedicate time away from social media and live my life in the real world more.

If you can’t remember the last day you weren’t on social media at all, I want to encourage/ challenge you to try and take a day off.

Thanks all for reading.

ps. all pictures used in this post remind me of a time where I wasn’t reaching for or using my phone, I was just living in the moment.