Some studies have shown that intermittent fasting can benefit your physical body, but what about your social media diet? Consuming too much Facebook, TikTok, and Instagram could be just as harmful to your mental well-being as scarfing down that bag of potato chips is to your physical health.
You do not need to abandon social media altogether, but taking the occasional break could be a smart thing to do. There are real benefits to the intermittent social media fast, and here are six of the most important.
#1. Deeper Real World Relationships
Social media connections can be vast but somewhat shallow. You may have hundreds of online friends, but how many of them could you call for a ride when your car breaks down or a hospital visit when you break your leg?
Taking a break from social media can be a great way to deepen the real-world relationships you have been ignoring in favor of your online friendships. You may even make a few new friends when you put down your smartphone and explore the world outside.
#2. An End to Impulse Purchases
Social selling has become a big business and for good reason. With their attention distracted and their endorphins running high, social media users are prime targets for businesses and influencers of all types.
If your wallet has been drained from all those impulse purchases, taking a break from social media could save more than just your sanity. You could save a ton of money by ending those spur-of-the-moment purchases.
#3. A Healthier Social Perspective
When you live your life on social media, you are bound to be consumed by flame wars, name-calling, and other examples of people at their worst. Viewed through that distorted lens, the future of humanity can feel pretty hopeless, but that's not reality.
If you want proof, compare the way people act on social media compared to how they interact in the real world. It's not common for face-to-face conversations to descend into the depths of madness, something that is all too prevalent on social media.
#4. Better Posture
Tech neck is a real malady, one that doctors are seeing more and more in the digital age. All that time spent hunched over your smartphone is bound to impact your posture, and that can come with a host of health problems.
When you break free of social media and live your life in the real world, you can stand up taller and straighter. You may not notice the improvements in posture immediately, but over time you should see the positive impact.
#5. Greater Productivity at Work and at Home
You may not think that glancing at social media costs you a lot of time, but all that checking can be a huge sap on your productivity. Whether you work at home or in an office, breaking the social media habit, even temporarily, could have a huge positive impact on your overall productivity.
The same productivity gains will likely extend to your home life as well. If you have been struggling to find the time to cook, clean, and get things done, you may be surprised at the number of minutes and hours that suddenly have come free.
#6. A Better Sense of Reality
When you view the world through an Instagram filter, you are bound to come away with a distorted idea of reality. Those filters may look fun, but they are designed to serve a much more nefarious purpose.
When you compare your own reality to the social masks of others, you are guaranteed to come up looking and feeling short. Simply put, social media sites make money by exploiting these feelings of inadequacy, keeping you on the never-ending hamster wheel until you finally take a break. Taking that break will be good for your mental health and emotional well-being, so much so that you may not want to go back.
There are good things about social media, to be sure. When well used and healthily consumed, social media sites can indeed bring people together.
As with all things, the danger comes with overindulgence. Eating a slice of pizza now and then will likely not do you any harm, but consuming an entire pie just might. In the same way, social media should be consumed carefully, and giving yourself time to wean yourself away is likely the healthy thing to do.