I choose the medium level difficulty. I found it to be easier than I thought. I decided to delete YikYak, Fizz, and Discord off my phone. Even after the detox I haven’t redownloaded them. Because of the detox I found more things to do that I don’t normally do. I hadn’t left campus in a few weeks so I decided to go on a walk and at the end of the walk I rewarded myself with pizza. I also found time to get some exercise in playing basketball, volleyball, and ping pong. Lastly, I felt better mentally not looking t social media frequently. In the future I will probably do a variation of this.

This project wasn’t as much fun as I expected especially with the homework I had especially during the weekend. However, I did meet the expectations for the detox. I decided on the easy level due to the nature of my job and my assignments. I reduced my screen time by 4 hours and stayed off streaming platforms. After disconnecting from my phone the entire day, I took naps, did assignments, and went to work. The detox wasn’t really impactful, but it was nice not looking at Instagram and Snapchat for the weekend.

I had fun with this project. I believe I met my goals but if I were to do this again, I would change the difficulty. I decided on the easy level but I was spending less time on my phone than the maximum of 3.5 hours. I was able to cut down my screen time and stay off of social media apps that constantly keep me going on them on a regular daily basis. By disconnecting myself from my phone and other media I was able to spend more time with my friends and go out more. I was able to start new hobbies as well and get way better sleep. It was nice trying this while I was in season for football because I had way more fun and got way more sleep on the bus rides there and from our away game. I was able to realize that getting away from the screen is truly good for you and I enjoyed this project very well.

I think I met my goals for the detox. I was emphasizing myself to not use my computer so I was able to cut my screen time for my entertainment like watching my favorite shows on Netflix by a lot. It was a healthy experience, both practically and emotionally because I was more productive on assignments and was engaging with my friends. I ended up spending my time doing my assignments and hanging out with my friends. This experience made me realize that spending my time without any screens can be more fulfilling and I felt more purpose on the things I did.

I decided to do a medium level of digital detox. I plan to delete two of my social media: TikTok and Instagram. I wanted to challenge myself, therefore I picked two platforms that I use the most. My plan is to decrease the screen time after this week, and hopefully, I will become more aware of how unnecessary they are to use every day for abnormal amounts of time. I am looking forward to this challenge and it will be interesting to try something I have not tried before. I feel this will be very nice since I will have more free time, that I will use for socializing, hobbies, and other things that bring joy to me.

Digital Detox Reflection

Deleting two social media platforms over the weekend was a big challenge. Especially, because I decided to do a medium hard level and delete my favorite platforms, TikTok and Instagram, that I use the most. I use them often in the mornings, during the day and even before going to sleep. At the beginning I found it very difficult, however as the time was going, I started being more aware of how addicted I am to them. Therefore, I was very focused on achieving this goal, and proving myself that I can do some other things besides using my phone. I had a whole weekend to spend without using these two social medias. Firs time where I felt I need them was Saturday morning. Unfortunately, the first thing I look at in the morning is usually TikTok, however this Saturday morning was different since I knew I cannot use it. To be in honest, that made me very frustrated and annoyed however soon after I decided to that I should get up and have a productive morning.  I decided to start doing some homework ahead and planning the rest of my semester. Throughout the day I almost forgot about TikTok and Instagram because I spent a lot of time with my friends, and I found myself more present everything I do with them. I knew that some hobbies and activities would help me increase my social time. So, the next day I planned on spending the time at the gym. This helped me a lot because I have not thought about my phone almost at all.  On Sunday night I checked my screen time, and it was already way lower than it is usually. here were couple of times where I almost downloaded them back, just because I was bored, and it seemed very weird laying down in bed and not scrolling Instagram or TikTok. But I knew that would be a huge failure, so anytime I would feel like I need them I go and hang out with my friends, where I know I am always welcomed, or do some things for myself, such as organizing my clothes and cleaning the room. I am so happy that I succeed and finished digital detox at the time I planned. This helped me become more aware of my relationship with digital media. After this detox, I feel like I will never be as addicted as I was. Writing this reflection helped me realize all the ups and downs of the digital detox experience. In overall, I am very happy how digital detox went for me, and proud of being able to complete it and finish it. This was a very valuable reminder of the importance of balance in my digital life and positive outcomes that can arise from digital breaks.

I plan to take a modified version of the medium option for the digital detox. I am going to stay off of two social media platforms, but instead of giving myself 3.5 hours of digital entertainment and 3 hours for other activities on my phone, I am going to combine it all and stay under 3 hours of screen time on my phone a day. Since I got to college, I have been trying to limit my screen time on my phone and have already seen some improvement. However, I still need to work on my consumption of social media. I usually stay around 3 hours on weekdays, but on weekends I can go as high as 6 hours a day. My goal is stay consistently under 3 hours every day, including weekends.

Overall, my digital detox went well last week. Except for one day, Friday, I stayed under 3 hours of daily screen time. During the week limiting my screen time was not as challenging as I had originally thought, since I spend a lot of my free time practicing sports, hanging out with people or doing homework anyway. Usually, my schedule during the week is pretty tight, so I do not have a lot of time to spend on social media. However, I was most challenged on Friday night. I had a cross country meet early the next morning so I could not go out with friends, and so I had a lot of free time to myself. I ended up spending more time on social media that night than I realized, and I went about an hour over my 3-hour screen time limit.