social media and (mental) health what happens if we turn them off?

The smartphone and mental health

Not only is there a clear link between owning one smartphone and the risks for the mental healthbut also between time spent on social media and level of unhappiness.
There are many explanations, some even conflicting, as to why smartphone use could have a negative impact on our mental health.
Many concern – of course – social media which feed many mental health disorders and disorders giving rise to problems such as FOMO (“fear of missing out”, the fear of losing something), cyberbullying, dysmorphia body and self-esteem issues, anxiety about the amount of friends or followers and for obtaining I like it or hearts (on Instagram).
All these problems can affect people of any age but clearly young people are most at risk, not only because they are the first generation to be born immersed in this technology but also because there is more pressure from peers and their personalities are still forming.
What happens when cancelliamo l’account or, as announced Clare Ferragnido we detach ourselves?

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Without social media for 17 days (for now)

“Social media is a demon in disguise and I personally think they do more harm than good,” he says Andreawho works as an assistant in an art gallery and uses social media (also) for work.
“I dare not count the hours I’ve spent scrolling through the feeds of Instagram following random accounts and staying up until 3am, laughing at the same memes over and over againupdating my feed and opening the application literally whenever I was bored or that I had my hands free.
Instagram has become an addiction and I was trapped, like everyone else, in its trap.
It was affecting me mentally as well. Besides loading me with different insecurities with the way I look and think, it was driving me to frustration. Frustration with the fact that some people were leading “normal” lives: they changed jobs, traveled, got married, had children. While I was somehow always standing still in the same place or, at least, felt standing still.
I resented the fact that people had, for example, spent the quarantine in beautiful houses or, after that, their holidays were nicer, more fun, more expensive than mine.
So, to cleanse myself mentally and emotionally, I decided to delete Instagram about 17 days ago and I must say that my mental health is already positively affected.

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The first days were of struggle. Like all addiction cycles, getting out of it was difficult.
Since I also use Instagram for work, I couldn’t delete the application from my phonebut I logged out of my personal account.
In all honesty, it was pretty much like deleting Instagram because I never use my work accounts for personal reasons. Of course I was constantly tempted to log into my personal account.
I also experimented with muscle memory: my fingers went to touch the application without me commanding them to do so. And it happened several times, always for no reason.
I was initially wondering what the rest of the world was doing online and felt huge levels of Fomo.
I started wanting to see reels in roundup, cross posts with quotes and all. I started to miss pictures of my friends, of send memes to some of them and to laugh about it together.
But my willpower prevailed and I resisted the urge to do all of these things every single time.
It was difficult, but I did it.”

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“After a few days of deleting my personal Instagram account it really started affecting mine mental health. I was experimenting with new things and enjoyed it.
I also experienced a new sleep-wake rhythm that didn’t include stay up until 3 in the morning scrolling through the lives of others. I then found myself at sleep earlier and better.
I have also found the time.
Suddenly I had free time to read, cook, do things that Instagram posts told me to do but they never gave me time to do them since I wasn’t always busy posting something and started living in the moment. It was the start of something new and I liked it.”

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“Two weeks without social media and I was mentally in heaven.
I no longer wanted to enter my Instagram and mine mental health was skyrocketing. I grew to love Fomo and honestly, I just stopped caring about what people were doing.
I was no longer bothered by photos of people flying to Maldives or who had fun, married, had children.
My insecurities about my looks have also diminished. No one was reminding me that I don’t have six pack abs or what my face is not symmetrical and there’s a filter that lets you see what it would look like if it were.
I was also sleeping like a child every night and woke up like one the next day. I started using my spare time to do things offline like gossiping with the bartender across the street, reading again paper journal and paint. It was amazing, really.
After deleting my Instagram my mental health benefited but so did my aura.
I became more positive and less asshole and judgmental.
I used to send my friends posts and stories from different people with the sole purpose of teasing and judging whoever posted them: What is he wearing, Who posts such things, How uncomfortablehad become part of my daily jargon.
I’m not proud of it, but I did. But the cleansing I had chosen to undertake took away all that meanness and judgment. In fact, it made me realize how negative and problematic it was my online behavior. And it was a real blow: we have all become like this and I, now that I am aware of it, know that I will be more respectful. In short, eliminating Instagram made me more positive, it improved my moodreally”.

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The benefits for data and privacy

“One of the best things that came out of my decision it was the impact on security: my privacy and my data was somehow more secure,” continues Andrea.
“After I stopped using Instagram magically I also stopped receiving lots of spam messages and mails (I barely use Facebook, Twitter and Snapchat, so Instagram was my main data tracker).
While I know that deleting my Instagram account made me feel better about myself, I also know that it is not a permanent situation. He’ll be back on the Insta-horse at some point, but in a healthier way.
I will limit my use of the app, unfollow any account that makes me feel even lonely a little insecure and I will only stay on the app at certain intervals of time.
But it won’t happen anytime soon, I won’t be using it again anytime soon. At the moment i’m still having fun figure out what the detox is going to have in store for me, and I’ll continue to do that for at least another month or two.”

She is a journalist, writer and feminist and LGBTQIA+ activist. She is a member of and works with several associations and organizations that promote gender equality and the equality of…