Episode 150 - 5 Reasons To Take a Social Media Break
Do you feel the weight of phone addiction like I do? Let's break free together. Join me as I express my desire for intentional living, opting to explore the silence within rather than constantly consuming others' lives through social media. In this episode, I delve into the 5 reasons behind my decision to take a social media break during the holidays. Discover why joining me on this experiment could be beneficial for you too. Now is the time to reclaim our mental clarity and presence.
Topics
Being the driver of your own life.
Learning to be bored and making space for intuition and creativity.
Decreasing reliance on willpower to resist distractions.
Reducing anxiety caused by social media.
Acknowledging the addictive nature of social media platforms.
Links
👉 Ready to start 2024 boldly? Book a Discovery Call!👈
Transcript
[AUTO-GENERATED]
Marie-Pier Tremblay [00:00:06]:
Welcome to the Self Growth Nerds podcast. I'm your host, Marie, a courage coach, creative soul, and adventure seeker. Since thru hiking the Pacific Crest Trail in 2019. I'm on a mission to help you embrace your most confident self so you can achieve your dreams too. If you're eager for deep conversations, big questions, and meaningful connections, join me on the quest to discovering how we can create a more magical and memorable life. Hello, nerds. How are you? Merry Christmas if you celebrate Christmas. Happy holidays.
Marie-Pier Tremblay [00:00:48]:
When this episode will come out on Christmas Day, I I will be on a social media break. I tried this last weekend for 3 days just as a test run and really loved the effects it had on me, so I decided to do it for a longer period of time over the holidays. So from December 23rd to January 1st or 2nd, I'm not sure yet. I will be on so on a social media break. And this episode is the 5 reasons why I decided to do this, and also an invitation for you to to join me in that experiment if you feel compelled and if those reasons resonate with you. So let's dive in to the first one. The first reason I am deciding to take a social media break is because I want to be the driver of my own life. Our phones are just little dopamine dispensers.
Marie-Pier Tremblay [00:01:46]:
Have you ever noticed if you're, like, sitting on the sofa reading a book in the evening and your phone is next to you. Your brain is just going to send a signal to your hand to pick up the phone and have a look at Instagram, at Facebook. For me, I've noticed that the urge comes back, depending on the day, every 2 minutes or every 8 minutes. It's automatic. I don't even think about it. This reminds me of a research I heard about where lab rats would press a pedal for snacks to come out. If the snacks came out, in an inconsistent way, The rats kinda went crazy. They they would press the pedal all the time thinking, oh, maybe this is the time.
Marie-Pier Tremblay [00:02:29]:
Maybe this is the time. Whereas if The rats for which the snacks came out in a consistent way, they they were more chill because they knew what to expect. And I wanna feel chill. I wanna be intentional instead of reactionary. I don't wanna be a slave to these primitive urges for rewards because that's what happens. Every time you pick up your phone, you get a reward. You get a little dopamine boost. Last weekend, when I tried, taking a social media break, at the start, I I would just keep reaching for my phone and that there would be nothing where I used to click.
Marie-Pier Tremblay [00:03:11]:
And at first, what happened is I would try to find other ways to get that dopamine. I would read newsletter. I would explore Substack, but it was not the same. So, eventually, my brain understood that there was no more reward associated with picking up my phone, so it started sending me less signals to do so. I still did because oh, to check if someone had texted me, but the the the urges We're less frequent and less intense. And so I'm really curious to see what that's going to be like after 7 plus days. Reason number 2, boredom leads to ideas. So if you've been confused, not You don't really know what to do next about a specific aspect of your life.
Marie-Pier Tremblay [00:04:02]:
If, you missed the creative spark that you used to have, I believe answers will come to you and creative ideas will come to you in stillness. They will rise from the the depth of your intuition or your heart into your consciousness, but there needs to be space for them to be Nerds because there's just too much noise right now for most of us. So many of the biggest decisions I've made in my life for some of the best ideas I had that led to incredible results happened came to me when I was either washing the dishes, so my hands were in the water and I couldn't be on my phone, or I was in the shower or I was taking a walk without headphones or I was just lying on my bed looking at the ceiling. We need to create more of these moments. Otherwise, it's like, imagine you're asking a super important question to someone in a loud party, and they're trying to answer your question, but you cannot hear them over the music. And you keep asking the question and they keep answering and and you just Are you expecting them to shout over the music? That's that that's not going to work. You need to go to a quiet place to rediscover your old thoughts. Because right now, what many of us do is we wake up in the morning as And one of the first things that we do is we look at Instagram.
Marie-Pier Tremblay [00:05:38]:
We look at TikTok. And so we fill our brain with other people's thoughts and and are confused about what's us, what we need, what we desire, and what other people tell us we should need or we should desire. Think about when you were a kid. You probably discovered what you were interested in when you got bored. For me, I would draw. I would write stories. I would read books. I would record silly radio shows.
Marie-Pier Tremblay [00:06:08]:
In those times when who had nothing to do. What would you do? That's how you become who you are and develop the skills that are unique to you. But if you stop being bored, then you reduce access to your soul. You reduce access to your truth, to your intuition, and I find that we all start thinking the same way. But that's not because we're all the same. It's because we've just cut ourselves from our unique source. So that was reason number 2, and that's, I think, the most important to me. Boredom leads to ideas, and it leads to answers that are in alignment, that are in integrity we who you are and are meant to be in this world.
Marie-Pier Tremblay [00:07:03]:
Reason number 3, when you take a social media break, it becomes easier for you to do what truly matters to you. It's it's kind of interwoven with the last reason. Not only will you get ideas, but you will have the space to act on them. Just imagine your You if you were in a room for a whole week with, a series of books about a subject you you've been wanting to learn on. Maybe it's finance. Maybe it's history. If all there is in the room is those books and nothing else, there's no phone, You're gonna read the books. You're gonna get so bored, you're gonna read the books.
Marie-Pier Tremblay [00:07:44]:
But if there's a phone, you're probably gonna spend a lot of time on that phone. And at The end. Which one of these scenarios is gonna create the most interesting result? Which one of these weeks is going to feel more nourishing. You tell me. Just just imagine, maybe you've been talking about building a piece of furniture forever or learning how to sew. If you were in a room for a whole week with no phone and just the wood you need to build the furniture or the like a sewing kit to learn from. You would do the thing because it's better to get delayed gratification, then no gratification at all. You'd be willing to do the thing that's a little bit harder if there was nothing else to do.
Marie-Pier Tremblay [00:08:35]:
Maybe you would spend some time sleeping. Right? But eventually, you'd just be like, okay. I need to be challenged. And instead of being challenged in cheap ways, you'd you'd be challenged in meaningful ways. It's kind of like water versus Coca Cola. Water is better for you, but your brain's gonna be much more excited about Coca Cola if it's there. But if you remove the Coke, Then you get to stop relying on your willpower to do what's best for you. You stop relying on telling yourself, no.
Marie-Pier Tremblay [00:09:08]:
I should really drink the water. Even though I really want the coke, I should really drink the water. You're like, yeah. Well, water is all there is, so I guess I'm just gonna drink the water. Same thing with a social media break. Instead of telling yourself, oh, I shouldn't go on Instagram. I should read my book. You don't have to do that because you're like, well, Instagram is no longer on my phone, so I guess I have no choice.
Marie-Pier Tremblay [00:09:30]:
I'll just read my book. That's one example. Right? Removing the temptations instead of wasting energy trying to resist the temptation. Reason number 4 why I'm taking a social media break is I wanna feel less anxious. Platforms like Instagram have a way of creating problems that didn't exist before. Let's say you feel good about your relationship, Then social media shows you other couples or tells you about how relationships should be. You'll start looking at At your life differently, you'll become more analytical. Instead of trusting how you feel inside, you'll start relying on external validation.
Marie-Pier Tremblay [00:10:14]:
We'll start comparing yourself and look for certainty, certainty that you fit in, that you're doing things right, and That's not your fault. That's how we are wired as animals. We wanna be part of the tribe. We wanna fit in, but it's impossible to fit into the worldview of hundreds of different people. It's bound to make someone go mad. You might still compare yourself in your day to day life, but again, it's about reducing the temptations. There's just so much perfection online, so much unrealistic expectations that we are up against. I remember the day I started feeling self conscious about my teeth is when my roommate made a comment about hers.
Marie-Pier Tremblay [00:11:08]:
I don't remember what it was, but but I remember thinking, oh, I never thought about that before until she opened up about her own insecurities. And going on social media is like that times a100. Everyone's insecure about something different, and you're exposed to all of that every day. It's just impossible to not let it get to you. And so often, it's unconscious. You finish using an app, and you don't feel so good. You don't know why. That's because it's all happened in the background.
Marie-Pier Tremblay [00:11:46]:
I'm just thinking about wrinkles now. This This year is the year where I started seeing myself aging for the first time. And if you surround yourself with other people who are at peace with aging, it makes it easier. Of course, you still have to deal with the ads that you might see or the odd comment that your aunt might make at Christmas. But then when you go online and you see a bunch of people talking about Botox and eye creams and all of that, When you've never considered buying into that sort of stuff, it might tap into your Your desire to be loved and you you start wondering, maybe I should do that too. I could give you a 1000000 examples. If you're happy in a monogamous relationship and you start seeing a bunch of content about polyamory online, you might start doubting. You might start are thinking, am I missing out on something? Oh my god.
Marie-Pier Tremblay [00:12:49]:
All of this to show you that it just creates problems that were not there in the 1st place. And it can be degrading. And I say it can be I I should say it is degrading to your relationship with yourself and your relationship with others and Just your quality of life on a day to day basis. It reduces your inner peace. And it lastly, if those four reasons were not enough. Let's end with reason number 5. I'm taking a social media break because I wanna prioritize my well-being over capitalism. I always struggle with that word.
Marie-Pier Tremblay [00:13:26]:
Capitalism. It just feels like someone falling to the floor in my mouth. Now don't get me wrong. I also love social media because it has allowed me to change career and design a career online. I I wouldn't have clients if social media didn't exist. I wouldn't be able to promote this Podcast. So I'm forever grateful to this platform and how it's Allow me to reach people all over the world, but it's designed to keep us addicted so that these big corporations make more and more profit, and I refuse to just let them win. I want this to be a win win relationship.
Marie-Pier Tremblay [00:14:11]:
Right? So the other day when my friend told me, oh, really? You're gonna take a social media break that that for sure is not good for your business, I I said I didn't mind because I'm willing to leave money on the table in order to be in alignment with my values. I watched a YouTube video by someone that I admire, Ali Abdaal. He is a doctor turned YouTuber. His business makes, like, 5,000,000 or something. And he's made a a video recently called Everything's Changing where he talks about how he has decided to just make videos for fun now, just make videos when he feels like it. He has decided to work part time. And lots of his, entrepreneurial friends told him, are you sure? Like, that's dangerous. He himself was thinking, oh my god.
Marie-Pier Tremblay [00:15:04]:
I'm gonna lose money. The people that work for me are gonna might might lose their jobs, and he was very anxious about that. But he decided, you know what? What's going to make me happy is this, and I'm willing to leave money on the table in order to be happier. Well-being as a priority over money. And, of course, that's a pre pretty privileged point of view. Not everyone is able to say that. But if you get to a place where you can make that decision, I think that's a very powerful One, to make it that requires a lot of guts in the society we live in. So that's it for today.
Marie-Pier Tremblay [00:15:49]:
The 5 reasons I'm taking a social media break is because I wanna be in control. I wanna be the driver of my life. I wanna be intentional rather than a slave to dopamine. I, also want to get bored and see what ideas come to the surface, what Answers are gonna come to the surface about what to do next with my life. I also reason number 3, want it to be easier for me to do what truly matters to me. Instead of having to control myself and not go on my phone too much, I just wanna remove that temptation and and make it, more simple for me to make decisions I Love, decisions I'm proud of. Reason number 4, I wanna feel less anxious. I don't wanna create problems that didn't exist before.
Marie-Pier Tremblay [00:16:40]:
And lastly, reason number 5, I wanna prioritize my well-being over capitalism capitalism. I'm gonna leave you with a question, piece of reflection. What do you value? And are you acting on Your values or just talking about them? I think it's very easy to talk about what you value and get get satisfaction from that without actually, these values being, turned into real actions in your life. If you say you value creativity, are you being creative, or are you just consuming other people's creations? And I asked this question. I'm not blaming anyone because I fallen I have fallen into that trap more than once because it's just easier. It's just more comfortable. But I think it's time for us to get out of denial to be brutal brutally honest with ourselves because we only have one life as far as we know. If you say you wanna read more books, are you reading more books? Or do you lie on bed at night with a book next to you and your phone in your hands? It's just questions to ask yourself.
Marie-Pier Tremblay [00:18:01]:
What do you value? And are you acting on your values or just talking about them? Maybe if you spend less time on social media, if you take a social media break, you'll start making your way back to yourself and to what's It's really important in your core. Okay. That was my invitation for you this week. The message I wanted to who share very passionately. I hope you're doing well. I wish you happy holidays if you celebrate, and I give you All a big hug, and I'll see you I'll talk to you in 2024. Okay. Hey.
Marie-Pier Tremblay [00:18:42]:
If you love what you're hearing on the Self Growth Nerds podcast and you want individual of finding a new direction for your life and developing the courage to make your dreams a reality. You have to check out how how we can work together on self growth Nerds or message me on Instagram at self growth nerds. My clients say they would have needed that support years ago. So if you're tired of feeling like you're wasting your life, Don't wait. Get in touch now, and I cannot wait to meet you.