We hear day in and day out from adults that don’t understand us that social media is bad. It’s easy to admit, though, that these are real addictions. Not even a month ago, I would have told you that I simply could not survive without Snapchat. All of my friends, my connections, my hobbies seemed to come out of the screen. That is actually so sad. Like, c’mon. 

I began to think about all of the things I was stressed about in my life, and (with an exception for math and physics class) I found that it all stemmed from my attachment to my phone and the “people” in it.  I was worried who was responding to me, and more so, who wasn’t. I was worried about taking off my mascara in case I needed to snap someone goodnight. I was worried about where people were and what they were doing without me, the list goes on. Not to mention the alarming screen time reports that my parents questioned me on every week, without failure.

There was a turning point for me. I was fed up with one specific situation, and decided I needed to separate myself from it completely. While there was a single reason for me to get rid of the app, I never anticipated how much it would benefit every aspect of my life, including my physical and mental health.

The first and most immediate effect that I noticed was the amount of free time I suddenly seemed to have. Because there was less to occupy my boredom and encourage my habits of procrastination, I felt more inclined to work on homework, exercise or hang out with friends in person. 

Along with this opening of my schedule, I realized so many opportunities for self improvement and self care. My routine before bed and in the morning changed to focus less on my appearance and more on making my hair and skin glow. Because looking back, how sad is it that I would waste that much time trying to preserve my day’s crusty makeup for Snapchat when I could have been putting in hours of nourishment and attention to improving my long term looks.

Looking beyond myself and my own growth, my relationships have also improved. The thing that I’ve come to realize about social media is that none of the connections made over it alone are real. You can go so long talking to someone over the phone, but when it comes to meeting them in person- their personality is different, it’s awkward, it’s nothing like you imagined. Because talking to people online consists mostly of the version that you create of them in your own head, not the reality of their existence. So, I decided that not only will it save me many awkward interactions to just meet people in person in the first place, but my true and in person friends will stick around even without me having Snap to communicate with them. Any person that is truly my friend and that I really want to still talk to, I will still talk to. Snap or no Snap.

Possibly my favorite benefit of deleting Snapchat, although it was the hardest to let go of at first, was my loss of desire to have my phone out and document every flick of my life through photo and video memories. While I miss a good “one year ago today” notification, I recognize how much more fun I have in the good moments when my phone isn’t present and the flash doesn’t take the place of my own eyes. Without it as a distraction, I am more involved and attentive to the memories being made, which I carry with me in my head, not in my hand.

I’m not telling anyone what to keep and not keep on their own devices, but the freedom I have experienced (although I hate to prove my parents right) is really worth mentioning and suggesting as an escape for busy and anxious high school students like myself.