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Switch off Instagram and WhatsApp – your detox from social media starts now
- How do you identify when social media is becoming unhealthy for you? When you are allowing it to disrupt other areas of your life, says one expert
- ‘I would be scrolling for 10 minutes … then 30 minutes would go by,’ says one social media user who deleted WhatsApp and Instagram from her phone
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With lockdowns and social restrictions worldwide stretching on amid the coronavirus pandemic, many people are using social media apps like never before. Some, recognising they are doing so to an excessive degree, have sworn off them for a time.
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When the Indian government mandated a countrywide lockdown in March, Anuja Chumbale moved from Bangalore back to her hometown in Aurangabad, Maharashtra state, to be with her family. She deleted WhatsApp in April, and Instagram around 10 days later, as she realised her social media habit was taking a mental toll on her.
“It was so unconscious. I would be scrolling for 10 minutes … then 30 minutes would go by. I would spend three to four hours [on these apps a day],” the 24-year-old admits. A frequent texter, Chumbale wrestled with the urge to check every single notification. “At some point, I realised I spent too much time on my phone.”
She had grown weary of pandemic-related content, she says, using the term “WhatsApp University” to describe people sharing their “knowledge” of the coronavirus online. “There was a lot of false news,” she says. Additionally, she found updates, particularly on the death rates, “triggering” as the information made her feel helpless.
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Chumbale says she feels freer since disconnecting from these apps, and adds that she does not miss always being available. “If people really wanted to find you, they call or email … you’re still reachable,” says Chumbale. “It has helped me focus more on my goals and what I want to do.”
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