Life seems to run on social media.
A lot of people receive their news from social media.
Others mainly interact with their friends on social media.
Some businesses rely on social media alone to promote themselves and reach customers.
If you don’t have social media, then you may wonder if you’re weird.
Is It Weird Not To Have Any Social Media?
No, it’s not weird to have no social media.
While hundreds of millions of people have some sort of social media account, some are breaking away from social media.
The constant push to share content and private stories of one’s life can be exhausting.
For some, it might even take a toll on their mental health.
To avoid the problems that social media can sometimes bring, they choose to stay away from it.
As such, it’s not weird at all if you don’t have any social media.
In fact, there may be a few reasons and benefits to not having social media.
7 Reasons Not To Have Any Social Media
If you haven’t quite decided to give up on social media yet, then you may be wondering why you should.
There are quite a few reasons, and perhaps even benefits, for giving up social media.
Here are some of the reasons why you might want to not have any social media.
1. Improve Mental Health
There are several negative impacts social media can have on your mental health.
For one, it can affect your sleep.
The need to know if people are commenting on your posts or liking them can keep you awake at night.
You keep checking your phone to stay aware of what’s going on with your social feeds.
The light from your phone can also keep your brain awake if you’re not using a blue light filter.
That’s because blue light can tell your brain to stay awake.
Losing sleep can negatively impact your mental health.
It can increase stress levels as well as feelings of depression and anxiety.
Social media, in general, can also make you feel more depressed and anxious.
You might compare yourself to others.
You might even compare someone’s success on social media to your own.
If you’re not as popular as they are, you might think that something is wrong with you.
Breaking away from social media allows you to focus on yourself.
You no longer feel that need to update everyone on all the different changes in your life.
You also no longer have to compare yourself to some numbers on a website.
By improving your mental health, you can live a much more satisfying life.
2. Focuses On Personal Relationships
Another reason to not have any social media is that it lets you refocus on the relationships that matter.
A problem with social media is that it wants you to reach out to others.
While forming connections with diverse people isn’t a bad thing, there comes a point when you’re spreading yourself too thin.
People stop becoming people, and they start becoming numbers instead.
It’s easy to forget who your real friends are when you’re suddenly receiving messages from tons of people each day.
By stepping away from social media, you’re essentially forced to trim the number of people you respond to and remain in contact with.
Since the number is lower, you’re then able to make those relationships a lot more impactful.
Instead of just liking someone’s message, for example, you’re forced to text them, call them, or even spend time with them in person.
By shifting your relationships from social media to something more tangible, those relationships become more meaningful.
This can also improve your mental health and happiness because you’re able to form those deep connections with people.
Not having social media can help you focus on the relationships that matter.
3. Lets You Form Your Own Opinions
A problem some people have with social media is that it becomes an echo chamber.
Someone might voice an opinion, then their fans all agree with them.
Any opposing opinions tend to become ridiculed or drowned out.
There’s no platform for debate or discussion.
As such, it can be sometimes difficult to form your own opinions.
You just end up agreeing with what the masses say.
When you choose not to have social media, however, that echo chamber disappears.
To receive any kind of news, you’ll need to do a bit of research.
You might see different headlines and different takes on the same issue.
By reading more, you can form your own opinion on certain events.
You don’t have anyone guiding your hand and telling you what you should think.
It also means you have more time to develop your opinions.
On social media, it’s a race to tell your opinion before someone else does.
Outside of social media, you can spend more time with your thoughts and going over the various facts before coming to an opinion.
As such, you might find that your opinions make more sense than they used to.
At the very least, you have some power over yourself.
You’re not just someone shouting into an echo chamber.
You’re someone with an opinion of your own that you formulated yourself.
4. Avoids Spoilers For Movies And TV Shows
One of the problems with social media is that they’re havens for spoilers.
Twitter, especially, can completely spoil an episode or the ending of a movie.
All it takes is a few trolls to start a certain hashtag trend and ruin something.
If you’re someone who takes spoilers seriously, then social media can be a minefield.
You never know when a spoiler might pop up and ruin something.
When you’re not using social media, you have significantly less potential exposure to spoilers.
The only thing you have to worry about is a news article’s headline.
If you take spoilers seriously, then no longer using social media can help you stay spoiler-free.
5. Adds More Time To Your Day
The problem with social media is that it’s easy to spend a lot of time on it.
The very purpose of social media is to keep you engaged.
You’re engaging with other people, engaging with stories, engaging with breaking news, and in some cases, even playing games on the platform.
Social media can suck you in, and it can be difficult to break away from it.
However, if you don’t have any social media, you might find that you have a bit more time in your day.
Instead of scrolling, posting, liking, and sharing, you might be able to do a few more things at home.
You might have some more time to spend with your family or your pets.
You might be able to take that walk outside or cook that meal you wanted to cook.
Having a bit of extra time on your hands can help you accomplish more.
You might feel surprised at how much time you have on your hands when you don’t have any social media to check or update.
6. Fewer Targeted Ads
A problem that social media often has is that it uses targeted ads.
Based on your likes, any groups you’re part of, or posts that you made, the platform can use that data to show ads that they think are relative to you.
They often state that it’s to give you a better ad experience.
They want to show you ads that interest you.
It also means you’re going to be more likely to buy that item.
If it’s relevant to you, then there’s a higher chance that you’ll buy the item, which is the whole point of targeted ads.
Data collection can be worrying, too.
You’re never too sure where the platform is sending that data.
By no longer using social media, you’re cutting off or at least limiting those sources of data collection.
It will be a bit harder for algorithms to determine what type of ad to show you.
It’s also a means of protecting your private data.
If you’re worried about where your data is going or you’re just tired of targeted ads, then not having any social media can help you.
7. Not Locked To Your Screen
A final reason you might want to consider for choosing not to have any social media is the ability to stay off your phone or away from screens.
Social media tends to make checking in a habit.
You want to see what your friends are posting.
You want to see how people are responding to your posts.
You end up becoming locked to your screen as you scroll and scroll.
This is a problem for a few reasons.
The first is that it can be distracting.
If you’re walking or driving and you’re on your phone, you could end up in an accident.
That might cause you or someone else harm.
It also means you’re not engaged with those around you.
Your family may want to connect with you, but if you’re too buried in social media, you may not be aware of them, or you might not be fully engaged with them.
By no longer using social media, you can break away from the screen and spend more time with the people around you.
Conclusion
Social media has its uses, but there are cases when not having any social media may be the best option.
From being able to focus on the relationships that matter to improving your mental health, there are plenty of reasons not having social media isn’t weird.
