3 Notifications That Say: You Need a Social Media Cleanse

Ding! Ding! Ding!

It’s not a doorbell; who needs that, when the continuous sound of notifications popping in is the new welcome tune to a social media loving person? The positive reacts, the hearts, the likes, the retweets, the comments, the hashtags, the new followers – these oh-so little fleeting things tucked snuggly inside a cellular phone or laptop, little do you know has become your toxic rationale for soldiering on. Yet, how do you know when it’s time for a break from the fast-paced, hyper-connected world in the cyberspace?

Meaninglessness sets in.

You are constantly uninspired or lack motivation to do anything apart from scrolling through social networking sites (SNS). You’re behind on chores, work, and your to-do list never gets attention anymore. Gradually you are conditioned to think you need SNS to bear the day, so you spend your hours there and enjoy yourself, laughing at memes and short-lived viral videos. But something feels off, weird – you feel empty. Really empty.

Mental unrest courses through you.

Looking at the lives of bloggers, artists, and celebrities for hours on end is certainly not healthy. Tendency is you get insecure or jealous of their lives and try to change yourself with that mindset – talk about toxic. Apart from that, you can easily get stressed and obsessive over likes and comments and such. Your impulse control becomes uncontrollable and you end up mindlessly navigating through social media sites in whatever time you get. You become a slave to social media.

You’re out of it.

You are so entranced in the oohs and aahs of social media that you’ve forgotten you had a life beyond the screen. If you haven’t read a book in a while, are running behind your gym sched, went missing-in-action from friends for weeks on end, or stopped doing your hobbies and favorite things, then something is definitely wrong here.

If you’ve experienced at least one of these things, do a social media cleanse. Try it for a couple of days, a week, or even more; it’s up to you. The essential thing is you remind yourself there is a life outside social media. Give yourself room to breathe and be voluntarily detached from social networking sites. It sounds like torture, but it’ll do you good in the long run.