In the past year, I’ve taken two full months off of social media. As an entrepreneur whose primary lead source was Instagram, that may seem wildly irresponsible. Maybe it was, but I don’t regret my 30-day social media detox journey. Disclaimer: I don’t think you will either.

We’re not meant to be constantly tethered to our phones, knowing what’s going on with everyone and their mother 24/7. It’s exhausting, mentally taxing, and doesn’t allow us to be our best selves!

The Decision to Detox

I don’t touch on this a ton in the podcast, but honestly, I was kind of getting sick of the chokehold social media had on my life. I knew December was a historically slow month in my business when I intentionally didn’t take clients, so I figured it was a low-stakes time to try this out.

In an effort to be more present in my life and just not allow myself to slip into hours of mindless scrolling, I told everyone I’d be MIA from alllllll the social apps for a month.

Understanding the Social Media Game

Social media isn’t just a tool for growing your business or connecting with friends. It completely shapes our daily experiences. Anyone who’s ever struggled with imposter syndrome (see episode 6) knows this intimately! As I took a step back from these apps and dove into books (like Digital Minimalism), I learned even more that we are the product here.

Platforms are expertly designed to keep us scrolling and engaging on the app, so they can collect as much data about us as possible because they’ll use that information to retarget us with ads that companies are paying good money for. We’re all business owners here – you get the game. Instagram is free to use, so it has to make money somehow.

But honestly, I was sick of being manipulated and found myself disgusted at all the tiny, seemingly insignificant design choices that make social media so addicting.

My 30-Day Social Media Detox Experience

Holy moly… What happens when you go from being an avid user of multiple apps to stepping away from the constant buzz? I saw the light. Don’t get me wrong. I had routinely logged off of social each weekend prior to this detox. But going multiple weeks without it made me realize how much I lean on the apps to cure boredom or fill quiet moments.

The evidence of how addicting notifications can be was when I checked my email for the 15th time before like 10am one day. Quickly, my detox transformed into a much larger question of how my phone was impacting my life.

The challenges I faced (mostly mental) at the beginning were rough; but quickly, they transformed into benefits I couldn’t have even predicted. Tune in to hear what I found myself doing in 28 degree weather while walking my dog and how stepping away impacted my creativity / productivity!

Stepping Back from Social as a Business Owner

One of the biggest push backs I get from entrepreneurs is that it’s not realistic to step back from social media for a whole month at a time. And that may be true if you’ve built your entire business on sand – er, I mean social media. You might take a temporary hit, but it’ll be really humbling to see how much you depend on an app that you have literally no control over.

And more than that, in this episode, I’m asking a really important ROI question… because spoiler alert: social media might not be as impactful for your business as you think it is. You might be wasting way more effort than you’re getting in return.

Get the Full 411

I’m really sharing it all in this episode. Tune in to get the highs, lows, and unexpected transformations that came from my 30-day social media detox (x2). Have you ever felt frustrated by the hold social media has on you? Or annoyed that you open the apps before even realizing what you’re doing? This episode is for you!