No social media for 28 days

Yesterday, I wrote about how I had failed abstaining from YouTube in the evenings. What I thought would be a relatively easier challenge than I have done in the past became a difficult thing for me to do. I was confused by my difficulty to complete the challenge.

On reflection, I realised most of my YouTube consumption was influenced by two things - social media use and purchasing a Google Fitbit Air. The later needed no further use of YouTube after two weeks because there’s only so many reviews and tips you can get through before you understand how to use the device to the best of it’s capabilities.

Social media, on the other hand, was a whole different beast. I had spent many years dipping in and out of it, deleting and returning after a year. I slowly introduced one platform at all time. Before I knew it, I found myself on Facebook, X, Reddit and Mastodon. This was never the plan after I deleted them a long time ago. Anyway, I have come to a point where I am endlessly browsing them through my desktop web browser. I guess the situation could have been a lot worse if I had installed them on my iPhone (maybe).

So, here I am - setting off on a 28-day challenge to stop using social media, including YouTube. If I can stop using two of them, I will be happy but I know full well I need to have an ‘all or nothing’ mindset for this challenge. 

There are many things I want to get out of this: focus on my goals, not get sucked into dramas I have place being in, rebalance my mental wellbeing, and so on. I’m sure you are all aware of all the cliches for not wanting to be on social media - it’s all of them and not scrolling for my next potential purchase. 

I have deleted the Brave browser, which hosted all my social media, so I can focus through my ‘productivity’ browser of choice Apple Safari (you might have heard of it). A new habit to remind me of the challenge has been added to Awesome Habits and I have a dedicated journal folder in Apple Journal to record any thoughts and feelings along the way. 

I plan to do a weekly post over the next four weeks no matter the positive or negative of my outcome. Bits and bobs from my journal be exposed for you all to see. Honesty is the best course of action!

As always, thank you for reading my blog.

Mark