Sam Crawford 22/06/2020 Sam Crawford 22/06/2020

Why you need a yearly Instagram sabbatical

So, it's over. I have just completed by second annual Instagram sabbatical.

I've written about my first experience quitting Instagram for 30 days here and I've also written about quitting Twitter indefinitely here just in case you want a little read of these after you've made your way through this goldmine of an article.

Anyway, the point is, ya boi has got previous with quitting social media so I'm quite well versed in this space.

Essentially - trust me on this.

What is a yearly Instagram Sabbatical?

It's simply taking a break from the gram for a prolonged period of time.

At the end of the day, Instagram is just a free app on your phone - it isn't a divine entity.

It's just as much of a meaningless abyss as Candy Crush or Google Maps.

Repeat after me... "Instagram is just a free app on my phone".

Good.

Now taking a time off might seem sacrilegious to some of the great unwashed out there, but once you get past that mental hold that Insta seems to have on every man and his dog, you'll realise that a measly 30 days really is nothing.

Taking a set break each year is one of the best decisions I've ever made.

Is this the same as quitting Instagram?

No.

You're just taking a break. So don't get all hot and clammy and start having palpitations at the thought of never going back again.

Your Instagram sabbatical isn't a social death sentence, it's the start of Operation: Plug Out. You're gonna feel like you're living outside the Matrix for a bit, that's all.

What benefits are there to taking an Instagram Sabbatical?

You're gonna get all sorts of benefits from taking an Instagram Sabbatical. You can see some others here, but I'm gonna list a few new ones below for your perusal you sexy unplugged swine, you.

Life feels less rushed

Life when you've got Instagram burning a hole in your pocket can really pass you by in an instant.

You're always rushing to get your drinks or your meal so that you can capture it perfectly at *just* the right moment.

You're always rushing to get to the end of a conversation so you can respond to your DM's and comments.

You're always rushing through just about everything in your life at the behest of Zuckerberg and his underlings.

When you take even just a second away from its all-too-alluring pull, you can actually take time to do the things you're so busy capturing. Without sounding hippy dippy à la Eckhart Tolle, being present and not fast-forwarding your life to accomodate an app is a breath of fresh air.

You genuinely become happier

Trust me on this one.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, when you take time out from Instagram, you will become happier. That might sound like quite a blanket statement (which it is), but you're not constantly checking your phone, draining your attention, being bombarded with people living an infinitely better life than you and Saudi Princes with pet tigers shooting dollar bills at you.

Life becomes what it once was - life.

Not some mad pumped up, Life 2.0 matrix that we've all become so accustomed to.

Get yourself reacquainted with boredom

Who would have thought it?

I genuinely missed boredom.

When was the last time you were really bored? Like actually bored?

Bet you can't even remember.

Seriously, as soon as we feel even the slightest twinge of boredom, out comes the phone and in swoops The Zuck™ and his cronies to offer salvation from a second alone with your thoughts.

When I instinctively reached for Instagram I literally had the muscle memory to open up my phone and keep clicking where it was, only to click the random app that had moved into its place. I kept doing this for at least a week, probably longer. But eventually, I came to accept that sometimes, it's okay to just sit there for a bit and think.

Scary, right?

But it was great. I would sit and actually concentrate on something. A problem I was thinking over for example, would often get solved as I sat in the sofa binge eating popcorn and scratching my arse. It was magical.

Focus out the wazoo

This was probs my favourite of the benefits.

When I work, I often have my phone chilling right next to me, whispering sweetly into my ear; "come on papi, open me up and scroll all over me..." but since I deleted Instagram and I'm not on any other social media (unless you count WhatsApp), there was literally nothing to do on it, so I was able to resist its advances.

I found myself focusing for long periods, boxing off work on my business in record time. Before, I'd do about 5 minutes of work then pat myself on the back, scroll for 15-20 minutes on Instagram, go on my emails, watch a few YouTube videos, stuff my face with some chocolate, get very guilty and then do another 5 minutes of work, only to repeat that process ad infinitum.

Now I will sit there for at least half an hour, up to around 3 hours and just do what I set out to do for the day.

Honestly, it's like taking NZT-48.

When should I take my sabbatical?

Take one whenever you damn well please my friend.

I usually take mine in June/July to get a nice summer month of enjoying myself and getting my life together.

You might opt to do one in December to enjoy the run up to Christmas and New Year or you might do January to really attack those new year new me promises.

At the risk of sounding like one of the worst types of people (the "well, it depends" brigade), it depends. What is your goal or purpose for the Instagram sabbatical? Are there any events that you truly want to be present for? Or are you just at the brink and need a month off? I've been there for that last one especially, trust me!

What if I never want to come back?

Then don't.

Obviously.

Instagram is great for making pals and being a snoop.

But it comes with many, many pitfalls.Unfortunately for me, my job requires me to be on there at least some of the time (as a blogger and digital marketer). It's a bit like a heroin addict living in a crack den.

If I didn't have to be, I'd be as far away from the app as humanly possible. But there we go.

Be sure to follow me on socials to keep up with the daily goings on of The Man Blueprint. You can also sign up for my inner circle using the newsletter form above. Just drop your email in there and it’s job done. Completely free and completely brilliant. Whilst you’re here, have a little browse of some other article you might like below too. You won’t regret it.

What happened when I quit Instagram for 30 days

I have a somewhat love hate relationship with social media. It has connected me to so many people who I would call genuine friends and it has given me a platform to blog full time, but sometimes it grinds my gears - which is why I decided to QUIT INSTAGRAM!

...for 30 days.

The problem with Instagram

This isn't just specific to Instagram - all social media is pretty much giving everyone a complex, anxiety, depression and turning us all into addicted zombies who can't handle ourselves in real social interactions.

But less of that!

That's not important right?!

Here are a few doosies that might resonate with you.

Your phone has become an additional limb

If you're anything like me, your phone will feel like an extra limb. You'll touch it all the time, not only just to check it's still safely snug in your pocket, but because it is a habit you've developed over the years.

The temptation to check Instagram will be an ever-present devil on the shoulder that just won't go away and you'll feel naked if you don't have your phone with you.

How ever will you cope?

No wifi/data = Tension/Stress

Knowing that you can't access your social media profiles will become a daily stressor whenever you don't have wifi or data.

Going through a tunnel on a train, driving through somewhere with no signal in the car - these times will often be some of the worst of your life.

You'll be desperate to check that feed to fill any gap in time and the absence of any form of connection will start giving you anxiety.

Confidence plummets

Because you spend so much time on Instagram creating a fake persona and acting like the life of the party, you may find that in turn, your real life confidence takes a big hit.

When you become so accustomed to all of your social interactions being through a platform on your phone, you might end up struggling to cope in face-to-face situations.

Social occasions become a worry and you'll resent the fact that you can't hide behind a profile. There are so many case studies out there to back this one up.

Here's a quick google search to show you.

You'll never be good enough

This is probably the most cited of the Instagram negative effect culprits.

Everyone posts their very best self - and then some, on Instagram.

It's not real, which we try our best to tell ourselves, but we just can't help but buy into it.

We've got people hiring professional photographers, lighting crews and god knows what else, just to get that perfect shot. Then we look at ourselves in the mirror with our dingy bathroom light for lighting and wonder why we don't look the same.

Of course we're not going to be like them. The people that make it big big, or even just big, on Insta are the elite - they're the 1% of the 1%. They put in thousands of hours of dedication to what they do, they make sacrifices that most of us aren't willing to make and sometimes, just sometimes, they're simply born with all the gifts.

To try and compare yourself to someone like that is actually an insult to them. How can we expect to look like a bodybuilder or a swimwear model if we're not willing to do what they're willing to do? Steroids, crazily restrictive diets, daily sacrifice - the list goes on.

Instead, we should use these people as inspiration - a ballpark to shoot for (shoot for the moon, land amongst the stars, etc) like older generations would do with celebrities in magazines. They knew that these people were doing crazy things and that they'd never look like them, but they knew they could get close and they knew they could do it in a much safer way.

Except, with Instagram, these people don't feel like celebrities do they? They feel like you or me, normal almost... This drives the comparisons through the roof and making us feel like we're simply not good enough.

Nothing gets done

Oftentimes, you'll wake up in the morning, switch your alarm off and then open up Instagram to scroll for 2 minutes, okay just another minute - okay let's make it 10...

And before you know it, you've spent 45 minutes mindlessly scrolling through everyone and their dog's feed. Then on your lunch break (and probably even during work hours you sly dog, you) you'll hammer out another hour of scrolling, messaging and liking. And after work? Well that's about 6 hours of prime scrolling time right there isn't it?!

You'll knock out another few hours of the good stuff until bed.

But wait!

We didn't think about bed.

Wouldn't a nice little night cap scroll be nice? You know, just to get you off to sleep? Why not ey? Oh wait, you've just spent another hour scrolling, you've messed up your circadian rhythm with blue light overload, wasted hours and hours of your day that you could have been either fully relaxing to recharge or actually working on something important/bettering yourself.

But no, that cruel mistress has got you in her clutches.

Maybe it's time to take an Instagram break.

Why I personally decided to quit

As a full time blogger, I thought I had to churn out daily Instagram content, no matter what.

Guess what?

I didn't.

I was putting content out every single day and my likes were beginning decrease, even though my followers were going up through my relentless engagement.

So, what was happening?

Well, my account (and blog) has always and will always be about 3 things - Style, Wellbeing & Culture. I had started to upload things on to my Instagram for the sake of it and whilst they may have been of decent quality, the passion and the 'on brand-ness' of them was missing.

And this filtered through to my followers.

I had become obsessed with getting out there for the sake of it. Just to be seen. But I wasn't enjoying myself. People weren't enjoying my profile like they used to and it just turned into a bit of a misery going on there.

I decided enough was enough. I needed to quit Instagram.

Cue dramatic music.

What actually happened when I quit?

Not too much really.

Well, none of the bad stuff anyway.

People think that when they quit Instagram, their life will fall apart and no one will know who they are once they get back. Even if that was the case, so what?

If someone forgets about you after 30 days, you clearly weren't exactly a someone in their eyes to begin with were you?

But yeah, back to me - the main man.

Once I quit, I felt immediately liberated. I didn't have to capture every moment perfectly, I could just enjoy it for what it was. Of course, there were the times where I was desperate to get back on to check up on my pals, do a quick update for my followers and just check that everything was fine and dandy.

I won't BS you, I missed it. And that's because I genuinely enjoy Instagram.

But quitting for 30 days really let me realise what it was that I actually missed. I missed the thrill of creating content that I enjoyed, regardless of an upload schedule. I missed messaging people and having a laugh. I even missed making stories on Unfold - the best app ever.

It also made me realise what I didn't miss - and that I wouldn't stress about these things again.

I didn't miss checking my account once every 5 minutes to keep tabs on how my new picture was doing. I didn't miss stressing that I should be replying to messages and comments right away. And I certainly didn't miss trying to beat the algorithm by any means possible.

I guess taking the decision to go on a mini Instagram detox has elucidated the good and the bad, giving me the knowledge to use the platform to it's full potential, falling prey to its pitfalls less often.

Would I recommend an Instagram hiatus?

Absolutely.

Definitely.

Yes, basically.

Taking these 30 days off has been a big step for me as someone who has been absolutely laser-focused on growing my presence over the last 18 months.

Taking that decision to quit Instagram, albeit for a relatively short period of time, has given me a new impetus to grow, engage and all that good stuff, but it has shown me that it also isn't the be all and end all.

Are there any benefits to quitting?

An absolute heap of benefits my good sir/madam/humanoid.

Savour the moment

I'm cringing as I write this as it is such a cliched point to make, but I'm going to make it anyway goddammit.

When you're not so caught up in trying to capture that perfect shot of the moment, you can fully immerse yourself in whatever it is you're doing without thinking in the back of your mind about which angle it would be best to capture it from.

Comparisons are gone

When you take away the source of comparisons, you stop them dead in their tracks.

Now all you'll be doing is comparing to others in real life which isn't nearly as damaging as doing it online. The majority of people are cripplingly normal, so you shouldn't feel as terrible about your self-image as before.

You'll get more done

You won't get the false sense of accomplishment that comes with sharing your goals and ambition online. Once you quit Instagram, you won't get the false positive feedback from strangers online which makes you feel like you've actually done something when in fact, you haven't done anything.

By taking a step back from the social media circus, you'll be able to get your head down and work on all the projects that you should be doing without people making you feel like you've completed it long before you actually have.

Real life becomes the priority

You might start to feel a little bit lonely once you shut off the unbelievably loud community that is Instagram. You will no longer have the illusion of interconnectedness that you once did with that lovely app powered up.

You'll realise that in real life, you probably see your friends much, much less than you used to.

Then you'll realise that real life is where it's at, making it the priority.

You'll begin to make more plans to do stuff and it'll be the best decision of your life, because you'll reconnect - properly, with your pals again.

Good stuff.

Bonus: You can feel morally superior to everyone

You can write articles like this preaching the benefits of eschewing the gram which inflates your ego to new, never-seen-before levels.

You can also tell everyone you know that you're on an Insta Detox™ and rub your smugness all up in their faces.

I kid, but you will feel slightly better than everyone else.

Just saying.

How to quit Instagram easily

The easiest way to quit Instagram for your experiment is pretty complex, but I'll walk you through it.

Take your phone out of your pocket

Oh, you were already on it? Okay.

Hold your thumb down on the Instagram icon until it starts wobbling about.

Click delete.

*Designated crying and existential crisis time*

Yes, yes. I know that for some it "JUST ISN'T AS EASY AS THAT!". Except it is. The only reason you think it's not that easy is because you've put barriers up to justify not quitting for a bit.

Everything is going to be there after 30 days. All your pals, most of your followers, any messages, anything worthwhile will all still be there.

Don't stress too much. It's the classic bandaid (plaster for my UK brethren) metaphor. Just get it over and done with straight away and it'll lessen the blow than trying to gradually phase it out.

More actionable steps going forward

Not everyone is going to read this and try to quit Instagram, no matter for what period of time.

I get it.

Addict.

But, you can try to cut down your time and still reap some benefits. In fact, this is what I have settled on myself since coming back into the fray.

Put your phone away

Just put your phone somewhere where it's annoying to get to.

If you want to concentrate on your work for a while, go and stick your phone in your car, in your garage, in the attic, even just another room in a drawer inside a load of clothes.

That way, if you're anything like me, you'll be too lazy to navigate these self-imposed barriers and you'll just get on with what you need to do.

Swap Instagram to an iPad

Just download Instagram to your iPad and get rid of the app on your phone. This is another way of putting a barrier between you and Insta.

The act of searching, downloading and signing back into the app is too much of a process for a lot of us, meaning we can catch ourselves during the twitch to go and scroll our feed.

Don't take your phone out with you - buy a burner

If you don't want to even give yourself the chance to go on Instagram, a great way to go about it is to buy yourself a burner phone.

This way, whenever you go out, you can leave your smart phone at home but you'll never have to miss a call or text if it's important.

I talk about this at length in my article on why I traded my iPhone X in for a £7 Alcatel.

Quit Instagram for good

If you absolutely loved your break, why not quit Instagram for good?

For those looking to go completely off grid and live their best life away from the prying eyes of social media, why not?Could be worth a shot.

Why I quit Twitter: And why you should too

Have you ever gone to quit Twitter, only to open the app back up 2 minutes later, scroll for 15 minutes looking at nothing in particular then forget all about your grand plans?

God knows I have.

But have you ever wondered whether your instincts about Twitter (and most social media for that matter) were right? Is Twitter melting your brain? Well that’s what I’m here for. I’ve been off Twitter for almost 60 days now and I’ve never felt better. My business is flourishing without it, I have more time to focus on what really matters and I feel fantastic.

It feels like quitting an addiction (and the freedom of not mindlessly scrolling while you take a deuce is one of the greatest reliefs of all time).

THE PROBLEM WITH TWITTER

Social media can be used for so much good, but in reality, it really, really isn’t. Twitter especially is rife with issues and has caused so much trouble for even the most casual of users. I’m not going to write a big essay on this because let’s be honest, that’d bore the bloody socks off you, but…

I am going to present you with a lovely little list of the problems (we all love a good list don’t we?) I encountered on Twitter and that I know most others will too, then we’ll move on from there.

KEEPING UP WITH THE JONESES

This is the absolute biggest problem with the whole of social media but I found it quite prevalent on Twitter more so than any other platform.

It is a different type of keeping up with the Joneses on Twitter though. You’re not comparing yourself to pictures of people – in fact, you’re not comparing yourself at all really – you’re just trying to fit in.

There is so much pressure on Twitter to conform to the opinions of others. If your opinion is even slightly different to anyone else you are instantly branded as ‘Toxic’ or ‘Cancelled’. I didn’t suffer this ill fate but I got so fed up of seeing people tear others down so regularly that I felt like I just had to get off the platform.

Like most people, I’m not one for regimented conformity – so this form of keeping up with the Joneses really rubbed me up the wrong way. That’s the tea sis. Cancelled.

ANXIETY

Twitter can be a huge source of anxiety in the modern world. How mad is that? Something that didn’t even exist a decade or so ago, becoming one of the biggest sources of anxiety in today’s society.

The constant need to conform and the barrage of absolute bollocks that gets fed to us in 140 characters every second is giving us the worst anxiety epidemic the world has known. More so than during the either of the world wars.

A caveat – anxiety is much more well researched and acknowledged in modern times, but I would wager it is still higher than it was during those periods.

DEPRESSION

Closely linked with anxiety, depression is another mental illness that can be caused, or at least exacerbated by Twitter. Depression statistics over the past 15 years make for grim viewing – it also conveniently coincides with the rise in social media popularity.

This may be linked to the FOMO that Twitter brings. Being connected 100% of the time leads us to compulsively check our feeds every minute just in case we see something funny to retweet or we see our friends tweeting about something we simply can’t miss out on.

If we do see our friends tweeting about something cool they’re doing or god forbid – tweeting other people (gasp), we tend to feel down and jealous, which can lead to anxiety & depressive symptoms at the least and full bouts of the two at worst.

GENUINE HUMAN CONNECTION

Listen, we’re not living in Minority Report. We’re not part of the matrix or shagging robots (for the most part) and we’re still based firmly in the real world. BUT, we are heading that way – we’re losing our grip on reality and a large group of us would probably rather live in a digital world.

You see it everywhere – people meet their friends and they all sit around together on their phones, talking to other people and posting tweets about what they’re doing and how much they’re enjoying it instead of actually doing so.

We lose that sense of genuine human connection – instead opting for the allure of our screens, which is harming our ability to actually communicate and form meaningful, lasting friendships in person.

LACK OF ATTENTION SPAN

This may well be a symptom of the times we live in but our attention spans have regressed at an alarming rate. It is said that our attention only lasts about 40 seconds on average nowadays. How crazy is that? You can only do meaningful work for about 40 seconds before you are distracted by something like a notification or simply just the urge to tweet or scroll your phone.

The use of 140 characters has dumbed us down somewhat in terms of what we are willing to consume. Why read a full post about a meaningful topic when you could just read a few tweets in a thread? That’s the thought process of so many of us nowadays and I believe it’s partly down to Twitter.

SLEEP DISRUPTION

Blue light. This is the culprit for those 3am social media binges. The ability to refresh and refresh for hours straight, seeing new tweets constantly is addictive. We lose all sense of time and get sucked into this vortex.

Blue light will disrupt your sleep by itself but the combined with the addictive nature of Twitter, you will find yourself sacrificing hours of quality sleep to try and think up just one more tweet. This constant need for a few more retweets will keep the gears in your head spinning for hours, which is why you find it so hard to get off to sleep when the last thing you did was look at your phone.

If you want to improve your sleep, spend less time on your phone at night and have boundless energy starting tomorrow then check out my essential night time routine.

GUILT

We will often feel guilty about how much time we spend in Twitter, leading us to feel terrible for a while, before we go an another hour long binge and repeat the process.

We also tend to feel varying amounts of regret over our tweets with the majority of us feeling embarrassed or ashamed of something we tweeted – even if it was just a few days ago. This causes another onslaught of guilt and lowers your wellbeing just a little bit further.

In more severe cases, tweets can pose a serious threat to people’s careers. Twitter has been around for a long time now, meaning there have been a lot of past tweets racked up by celebrities everywhere.

These tweets have been responsible for tarnishing and sometimes completely ruining the careers of countless stars such as Brother Nature, Justine Sacco & Gwyneth Paltrow. The tweets from these people were stupid by the way, but it just goes to highlight how Twitter can go from 0-100 real quick.

TROLL BREEDING GROUND

This is huge. Although I never really got ‘trolled’, a lot of people have received abuse, death threats and worse through Twitter. It’s also a place where you’ll get sucked into needless arguments and ‘debates’ over things you don’t even care about.

I remember I got into an argument with someone because they tweeted a flippant remark about bloggers. Who cares? It didn’t make me feel better – in fact, it made me feel angry and stressed, and for what? Absolutely nowt – it’s a platform for nonsense debate and fierce arguments over faux-concerned people.

OUR OWN THOUGHTS

It’s gone quite unnoticed but we hate spending time alone with our thoughts – if even for a few seconds. Think about when someone goes the toilet on a date, what do you do? You check your phone for updates so you don’t have to sit there doing nothing.

We are afraid of our thoughts. Boredom scares us. It’s a shame really – we don’t even know what it’s like to just be anymore. That’s not in some spiritual way either – your grandparents and even your parents for the most part, didn’t have Twitter – they were just present and spent a lot of time with their thoughts, inadvertently getting familiar and comfortable with their own mind.

I believe this is why there are such higher rates of anxiety and depression in the present day – we hate our own minds and when we have to spend time thinking, with no stimulation, we don’t know what to do and it frightens us.

I recently read a book called Hyperfocus which has a large section on spending time alone with your thoughts and no distractions. It shows you how to be comfortable with your mind and enable your creative spark. It changed my life – you should give it a go.

OVERALL NEGATIVITY

I quit Twitter because basically – it’s boring. So many people just go on there to moan. At least on a platform like Instagram, people are striving for better, they want the best shots and creatives are constantly looking to perfect their craft.

Whereas on Twitter, people just like to complain to brands that their top is a bit too small or that their train is late. It’s just meaningless musings from people who find solace in bashing everything but themselves.

If you want to avoid the majority of negativity in your life at the moment then you should quit Twitter. You will feel an almost instant burst of positivity – promise.

SIDENOTE

A quick sidenote. I know these issues can probably be applied to both Facebook and Instagram too. The thing is though, why are you still on Facebook anyway?

And in terms of Instagram, I genuinely don’t believe it’s that bad. People can’t retweet nonsense onto your timeline and the whole environment is far more geared towards positivity, with much less emphasis on promoting people who moan and bitch about everything.

But if you really want to go full hippie then feel free to bin off all your social media and get that #RealLife experience.

I’M A PROFESSIONAL WHO USES TWITTER FOR BUSINESS, WHAT ABOUT ME?

This is sort of a solid argument, as I can see where business owners are coming from here. But I am a full time blogger and Twitter is supposedly a blogger’s best friend, is it not?

You see, if something is really getting you down, it really isn’t worth the hassle of keeping up with. If you’re feeling the negative effects of Twitter (or any social media for that matter) then maybe it’s just best to take a hiatus.

In the grand scheme of things, it simply doesn’t matter.

WHY IT DOESN’T MATTER

So why doesn’t it matter? Well if we zoom out to the biggest picture possible, we’re a microscopic speck of dust floating on a rock in an infinite blank space, but let’s not zoom out that far – I don’t want to give anyone an existential meltdown.

Let’s take a look a bit closer to home. What do you value more, your happiness or your social media score? Some people don’t realise that it might be this question that they have to ask themselves. You, and only you, can make that decision, but actually addressing the issue head on might be the nudge in the right direction you need.

It also doesn’t matter because Twitter really isn’t the place for businesses to flourish anyway. Twitter is the platform that customers go on to vent frustration. Very rarely will you have customers tweeting praise at you – they do that on other platforms, if at all. It’s like a public complaints mailbox.

That’s why you see so many disastrous PR fails on Twitter. One wrong word and people will jump on you for absolutely nothing. I’ve jumped at brands before too so I can’t preach, but in terms of creating a strong business, I really don’t think Twitter is the way to go.

BETTER PLATFORMS

There are so many better platforms for brands to be on nowadays that are far better suited to businesses. Facebook is still sort of relevant for the average business but Instagram and on-site content marketing will become your new best friends when it comes to growth.

On Instagram, if you post daily and interact with lots of people, you’ll be able to build your brand pretty quickly – especially if you invest in ad campaigns too.

Then there’s on-site content marketing. If you’re not creating quality content for a blog on your site then you’re missing out on potentially thousands of leads. Great content will drive lots and lots of unique visitors to your business, so make this one of your priorities. I guarantee you it’ll more effective – and fulfilling than Twitter.

WHAT ABOUT KEEPING IN TOUCH WITH FRIENDS?

At the end of the day, their lives don’t really matter – yours does. You need to start living your own life for you and not for the adulation of your friends and random people online.

Once you get this into your head, you will start to realise how great life can be without flaunting it to everyone twice per hour. You can still keep in touch with friends – you’ve got a phone haven’t you?

Why not actually ask them what they’ve been up to and talk about instead of seeing their tweet about climbing Everest and replying ‘well done – maybe I’ll come along next time lol’. When you quit Twitter it will bring you closer to your friends and the connection will be far more real than a few likes and retweets every so often.

DOES IT HAVE TO BE FOREVER?

Nope. You won’t have to quit Twitter til you’re dying breath.

You can try taking a day off every week or a week off every month – whatever you feel comfortable with. You could try a full month and then see how you feel. I’ll go more into depth below about exactly what you can do when you’re looking to quit Twitter – even if it’s not permanent.

THE SOLUTION

So what is the solution? It’s all well and good preaching on my ‘QUIT TWITTER!!!’ soap box, but if I don’t provide you with the secret sauce then it’s all in vain. So, let’s get into the meat of it.

DEACTIVATE

Here’s the secret if you want to quit Twitter – you quit Twitter. Whaaaaaat?!?!?! I know it may be revolutionary but quitting Twitter really is the best way to quit Twitter. Who would have thought it?

I’m only semi-joking here too. It’s like the proverbial cliche – ripping the (American accent) band aid off. Just get it over with and deactivate straight away. No need for a big dramatic post trying to notify people of your noble quest. Just get off and tell anyone who you’re close to via text or carrier pigeon.

RIDE THE WAVE

The first week is by far and away going to be the hardest. You’re going to instinctively go in your pocket every couple of minutes. You’re going to scroll across your homescreen to try and find the app and you’re going to search for Twitter on your desktop. This is because over the years, you’ve built up a terrible habit – a twitch if you will. You have come to rely on this little app on your phone for stimulation and pleasure.

But you’ve just gotta ride that wave. You’ve got to see out this adjustment period of about a week or so. Once you get past this initial hurdle, it’s plain sailing. You will stop going for your phone every few minutes, you’ll stop looking for Twitter and you’ll stop thinking constantly about if a situation you’re in would make for a decent tweet.

You will come to realise that you don’t need this little bluebird anymore and that you have so much more free time and energy without it. You may even stop thinking in binary metrics of likes and retweets – shock horror.

REASSESS

After taking 30 days off Twitter, you can now reassess whether or not you need it in your life. Have you suffered any of the drastic consequences you thought you would? Do you really need to log back in?

If the answer is no to both of these, why not quit Twitter for good? If you think this is too big of a step, you can always log back in, make the world aware of your presence again and limit yourself to one or two scrolling sessions per day with notifications turned off.

Better yet, delete the app off your phone and force yourself to use Twitter only on your desktop – this is an effective way of limiting your consumption going forward.

BENEFITS OF TAKING SOME TIME OFF

Now for the juicy stuff.

You’re going to experience a looooot of benefits when you quit Twitter. It may also help to take on board the tips about reducing all social media consumption too. But anyway, let’s be havin ya!

YOU BECOME PRESENT

I have noticed this one the most. Instead of pulling out my phone every few minutes to check my feed and if I’ve missed someone’s tweet, I will barely go on it at all. Often if I’m meeting someone, I’ll keep my phone off completely so I can give them my full attention. After a while this gets a lot easier and you’ll find yourself enjoying the present far more.

INCREASES IN HAPPINESS

This is pretty much guaranteed. Once you block all the negativity and bad news that Twitter feeds you with constantly, you will feel yourself being more happy and more concerned with living your own life and not dwelling on someone else’s sadness.

I know that might seem a bit cold but you have to concentrate on increasing your own happiness before you try to increase everyone else’s. They always tell you to put your own oxygen mask on before assisting others in the event of a plane crash – this is no less true with happiness and life in general.

MORE TIME

I was averaging about 3 hours of screen time a day which probably isn’t even that bad compared to the general population. But that is still AWFUL. 3 hours per day spent gorming at a screen? That works out to almost an entire day per week lost to social media.

Twitter is the main culprit for this as it constantly feeds you new news stories, insights into people’s lives and just about anything else you can think of that would consume your time. By taking the decision to quit Twitter, you will be saving yourself so much of your finite time.

You can use this time to spend with your friends and family, work on a passion project, learn a new skill, whatever it may be – it has to be better than aimlessly scrolling through a screen hasn’t it?

YOU ARE MORE CREATIVE

Since you will be cutting down screen time (mine’s at about 30-40 minutes a day now), you will be spending a lot more time without this unnatural, novel stimuli and more time alone with your thoughts to be more creative.

Have you ever noticed how most kids are so bloody happy? Do you not think that has something to do with the fact they don’t have phones yet? They can spend their days socialising, learning and being creative. They don’t have the choice to go on their phones so they use their minds all the time.

Why can’t use adults be like that? I’m not stupid – I know that real life comes with stresses, bills, etc but why can’t we strive to just exist a bit more simply? Spend less time on our phone, socialise a bit more (in person) or learn a new skill – these can easily be done if you quit Twitter.

If you quit Twitter, it may just be the catalyst for change that you’ve been after – I know it certainly was for me. Keep your mind young, use your brain more and you will become much more creative and above all – happy.

NO MORE FOMO

There will be no more fear of missing out. You will stop spending your time refreshing friends’ feeds to see if they’ve posted updates or the day after to see if they upload any funny stories about the night.

You won’t care – at least you won’t after the first couple of weeks. Life will go on, the next night will roll around and you’ll want to go to that one because you want to experience it for real – not vicariously through their social feeds.

It’s a win win win win win situation. I can’t think of a single person that loses when you quit Twitter. Except for @Jack.

CAN TWITTER BE A FORCE FOR GOOD?

In short, yes it can.

However, it is pretty hard for Twitter to be a force for good over a prolonged period of time. Twitter was absolutely amazing for me for about 12 months. It allowed me to connect with lots of amazing people in blogging who helped me along the way and have genuinely become friends.

We all now follow each other on Instagram though, so I’m not missing out on any friendships. The only difference now is that the whole space I move in is far more positive and conversations are more meaningful.

If you can follow about 50 people, Twitter will probably be okay for the most part but let’s be honest – apart from your Grandma, who follows just 50 people? It’s impossible.

No matter how pure your intentions, your following count will always end up snowballing and you’ll find yourself getting angry at political threads and annoying trolls. The stress of Twitter really isn’t worth it – not for me anyway.