How to start a Social Media DETOX ? ✨

Instagram, from "Home for Creativity" to Digital Junkies.

This blog has become MY new Home for Creativity after realising some things that really did hit me, especially during COVID, when it comes to our SOCIAL MEDIA DILEMMA.

An addiction that really is one of the main causes of discomfort and depression for the past 2 decades now.

It has been years that I go on and off on facebook and instagram as I have had hard times setting boundaries and had decided to follow social media rules blindly instead of creating mine.

In 2015, I was very intrigued by this new platform everyone was speaking about so I followed the trend and installed IG myself, for the same reason we all did at first :

"Passion for photography, sharing our creativity & inspirations"! Right.

Well, that initial motivation, escalated quickly to "passion for over sharing".

A life that does not show the reality of our everyday life - a LIFE that is created to get LIKES, a LIFE that is made-up to get APPROVALS.

A LIFE that disconnects us from LIVING and that disconnects us from each other was created.

Easy to guess why - No ?

How does it disconnect us ?

- By nourishing that feeling of "knowing" the person in a very intimate way, creating a bond with that persona we define as worthy of likes, worthy of LOVE.

Making ourselves loose self-esteem and self-confidence until we loose our own identity.

Despite these negative emotions, we continue checking on that specific profile, live through that personas life, continue to nourish ourselves with that enhanced story created on IG, FOR IG.

- When that persona does not "like us" back or does not reply back ; we do not feel worthy of love, appreciated, validated - it does expand feelings of rejections, envy, revenge, gossip, sadness, addictions, all the opposite of JOY AND LOVE.

It creates discouragement, procrastination, frustration in the longterm, if you are not willing to take action to have the same lifestyle ...

How about starting with YOU?

How about asking yourself some questions instead such as :

" What do I want in life personally? What makes ME happy? What do I enjoy doing? Do I really want that same car or have that same morning routine ? Really ? What do I want in my real life"?

We are not connecting,

we are comparing.

We are not communicating :

we are projecting.

- It disconnects us from the present moment we are spending with ourselves, from our feelings, from our focus, from the people we are meeting up with..

I started to ask myself when I was myself into selfies, and showing off how AMAZING my friends are, how lucky I feel around them... because at first I just wanted to inspire people to FIND THEIR PEOPLE TOO as I suffered myself for too long of not being aligned with my past relationships.

Only 3 years ago I finally understood that being surrounded by the right people FOR YOU, will help you finally FIND YOURSELF, BE YOURSELF & LOVE YOURSELF. And oh, what a game changer.

Anyways - to get back to the "showing-off " part.

After sharing that message dear to my heart of "Find your people" - I surprised myself continuing over sharing quality moments with my friends and I started to wonder :

"Are we really meeting up or showing off as friends at the end? Do we still have that connexion when we are together or we are selling another story on IG? Why do I always feel that pressure of capturing that moment and share it straight away? "

I can capture that moment and appreciate it with my heart and feel GRATEFUL, instead of writing G R A T E F U L , with beautiful colourful letters and police.

"What need am I trying to fill myself in right now other than by the quality moment I am sharing with them ? "

- "Spread that emotions, share reflexions and moods. Ok - how can I do it in a way that is deeper than clicking on that story bottom ... and how do I want to express myself actually"?

Where is my value of FREEDOM in all this?

During COVID especially - I felt overwhelmed, over-solicited, even considered as a tourist office while travelling.

I started to feel the pressure of always having to reply after posting a quote, a picture, a music, an emotion I felt I wanted to share.

When I was not replying I was feeling GUILTY and even if I was trying to stay in the present moment - it was coming back to my mind : "What will they think of you if you do not reply?"

It even forces us to block some people from the stories so they stop "pressuring you", "watching you", "stalking you ...", judging you.

And then to create a clear separation they created the "close friends stories".

The truth is we force ourselves - and judge ourselves - and stay prisoners of IG's rules instead of creating our own rules and for whomever it is not okay - well, what does it say?

If you are not able to play the social media game with your own rules, because you still find excuses : DELETE IT or keep hiding yourself. Keep doing things you are ashamed of, like I did to protect myself, protect my PEACE, my PRIVACY.

Oh what an hypocrisy ... the truth is - I was even more at war inside me. A social media junkie, addicted to over sharing but not willing to respond to that over solicitation I was manifesting, I was provoking, I was contributing to ... without taking the responsibility.

Suddenly, after spending minutes, hours, days, weekends, weeks, months, YEARS...

Yes, ONE DECADE OF MY LIFE later, I woke-up and realised :

IG was not a place where I was sharing my creativity anymore, values of beauty, travel, self-development, MUSIC, change, freedom, quotes, love, introspection - suddenly IG became my own my prison.

I had to stop the story I was repeating to myself over and over again, get out of the IG STORIES rules to tell my story and communicate my rules.

Now - before I write an entire book here- To discover how I will be using IG moving forward - see you on my next post if you like what I am contributing to and if my message is valuable to you do not hesitate to leave a comment and share with us :

- How you feel about social media, and IG specifically?

- How would you replace that feeling of over sharing?

- How do you express your creativity?

- How long do you spend on IG and when do you scroll?

- What need are you looking to fill in when you scroll?

- What are the information you are mainly looking for and/ or willing to share ?

Let's find together other ways of expressing our creativity !

Let's create other ways of truly connecting with each other in REAL LIFE.

Let's create real stories and emotions we do not have time to share.

Let's be truly happy.

Let's be FREE.

LET'S BE!

Moods of Jo🌙

@ehfarlife

Pic taken in Portugal, Summer 2021.

And also - let's do more sleeping under the stars <3

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Looking forward to reading your comments 💌

xoxo,

Moods of Jo 🌙