Note to readers • This is part of a collaborative project between The Salt Lake Tribune and the NS Times, North Sanpete High School’s student newspaper. Read more about these young Utahns’ experiences and perspectives here.

While standing still with a blank stare, waiting for my screen to do anything, something in me snapped. I realized I have a real addiction, an addiction I didn’t believe existed.

I decided to take a week off from social media.

I was averaging a total of six hours everyday. I couldn’t get away from it.

The rushing feeling of dopamine — a neurotransmitter and hormone released through your body giving you that “feel good” sensation inside — was something I didn’t want to give up.

Drugs like cocaine or ecstasy fill your brain with dopamine, and research shows that social media has similar effects.

I decided to go seven days without social media. It couldn’t be too hard, right?

Wrong.

I genuinely didn’t know what to do with myself. Relapse was constantly on my mind. What if I went on TikTok for just a few videos? Checked Instagram to see what my friends were up to? Looked on Snapchat to see what videos might have been sent my way?

All I wanted to do was go on my phone and waste my hours away. Scrolling everyday was subconscious in my brain. It would make me feel safe, it would give me a break and take my thoughts away. Realistically it was hiding a underlying problem, feeding my anxiety, making me jealous of others, all while making me think I’m happier while actually bringing me more problems.

My social media was a soft bed, a place for me to rest, but it was really just making me restless, left in a cold bed alone with my phone.

Just like any other addiction, the first three days were the worst. I would go on my phone and just stare at it — missing the countless videos I could have been watching. It was all gone. I didn’t know quitting cold turkey could be so hard.

I had to find new ways to distract myself. I mailed out two letters, I learned four new songs on my guitar and I visited family. I was doing so much more because I never had had so much time. It was almost overwhelming how much time I had.

I felt a sense of accomplishment and peace. I wasn’t ever able to do any of the hobbies that I loved purely because the time I spent on social media. It felt like a collar around my neck that was finally taken off. With all this time, I found so many new activities to do.

After a while, however, I think I had a little too much time on my hands.

After the fourth day, the weight of my phone wasn’t holding me down anymore. My mind wasn’t constantly on my phone. I was thinking about more important matters that were happening in my life rather than videos that I wouldn’t remember in an hour.

Six hours spent on a screen went to more productive and important parts of my life. I started to feel like my time wasn’t being wasted.

By day seven, I couldn’t deny that some excitement had boiled inside of me. I wanted to see what I missed, how the world continued to move on without me. When I logged on to my social media accounts, notifications were everywhere. I almost felt a little overwhelmed by the sight of them that I put my phone back down after 10 minutes.

Being off social media for seven days made me realize how many hours I was wasting on the internet. Not all those hours were bad, but very few of them contributed anything important into my life.

I came to realize that I am here for a bigger reason than the 6.1 inch screen that has caused a permanent dent in my pinky finger.

After years of bearing the weight of my cell phone, I finally was able to let it go.

But now I look at the rest of my peers and see they’re in the same boat as me. If we don’t make a change now, social media will consume our lives even more than it already does.

It might not seem like a problem in your life, but I urge you to go one week without social media. You will slowly start to realize how much you can do in life without your phone.

Janey Mitchell is a podcast producer at the NS Times, North Sanpete High School’s student newspaper.

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