Can you go a whole month without Instagram, Tiktok, and Facebook? Three Dutch Individuals Are Challenging Social Media Users to Leave Those Child of Apps Alone for the Entire Month of May. “You regain control over your Attention.”
This is the second year Jan Bruin, Rutger Wessels, and Janna Nieuwenhuijzen Have Been Trying to Get People Involved in Their Idea of Completely Quitty Social Media For 31 Days. They are doing this with their awwareness campaign May Social Free (May Social Free). They advise removing apps like Instagram and Facebook from your phone and setting up focus apps on your computer. “It’s interesting to see what a month without social media does to you,” Says Bruin.
About Fifteen years ago, Bruin was one of the first social media marketers in the country. He convinced many people and companies to primarily get on platforms like Facebook. “It was a lot cozier and more positive back then,” he says.
But over time, brown noticed that he was spending an incredible amount of time on screens. “I was constantly looking for stimulation. Always Something New. But I started to feel worse. I live superficialy.”
You Might Recognize That Feeling of Superficiality If You Regularly Spend Hours Scrolling On The Couch. Neuropsychologist Erik Scherder Says That This Superficiality is Rewarding. “It Costs you hardly any energy, but a neurotransmitter is released every time with a like or a new video,” he says. “And if a video isn, you scroll to the next one. And then to the next one.”
The Less Effort Something Costs, The Better. That is a very human feeling. But it’s not good for your brain, says sharder. “Your brain needs Depth. You can hang out your screen for a while, but the pitfall is that you do that for increasingly larger Parts of the day. A smartphone is a huge distraction. You don’t believe that Anyone Has ever. Memory is slow in that thing.
‘Don’t be too strict’
The Initiators Say They Are Not Against Technology. If, Instead of Scrolling on Instagram, you call a distant friend for half an hour, that’s fine. And Reducing Instead of Stopping is also good.
The time you normally spend on social media Suddenly Becomes available to do other things. Or to be bore in the old-fashioned way again. In The Beginning, Such A Detox Will Feel QUITE Unpleasant, Scherder Thinks. “But after a while, you start to get used to it, then it becomes a habit not to use the apps and you get more control.”
Above all, don’t be too hard on yourself, says brown. “Falling Back a Few Times is part of it. If you are on social media after all and then you are also very strict with yourself, you don’t feel better and you might just sit on your phone more.”