Touch some grass: living without SNS for 24 hours

By Dagyeom Youn

2026: our world is now full of people on their screens for almost the whole day. Doomscrolling Tiktok, posting everything we do on Instagram stories, and being catfished over clickbait Youtube videos. This is literally harming our lives. 

Have you ever thought of stepping away from screens for just a single day? I would bet not. So I tried it: 24 hours without social media. 

I am gonna be honest with you, I am on my phone all the time. 2 hours without social media is already a torture for me, but 24 hours? Watch how it is to live a day without SNS. 

Morning

I always grab my phone and check snapchat as soon as I wake up in the morning. But today, I felt more refreshed focusing on other things around me like breakfast, comics, and trying new hair, rather than just staring at the tiny screen.

Afternoon (After school)

After school, I was tempted to check my messages as always,   and it was challenging to ignore. On the way home, I looked at the window instead of scrolling on my phone. I felt like it took double the amount of time I usually take to go home - I got to enjoy the outside world rather than my tiny screen. I realised that not looking at the screen in the car makes me feel less dizzy. In fact, I did some research: when we use our phone during transportation, the signals of our eyes and ears do not match, making our brain lose certainty and control.

Evening

I didn’t watch anything on my phone and spent time chatting with my mom while having dinner. We caught up a lot. My stress level is usually high at 6pm - 8pm, playing games and scrolling. But today, I felt more rested and my stress level was so much lower. Once I finished my dinner, I went straight back to my homework. This way, I don’t have to do them all in one night by pulling all-nighters. 

Before sleep 

When I watch reels while brushing my teeth, I often tend to forget that I’m only supposed to brush my teeth for 3 minutes. I cannot sleep immediately after going to bed. However, it barely took me any time to fall asleep today. This is because our brain takes the uninterrupted signal as a sign to rest. If you use your phone before bed, your brain has to fight with the artificial daytime signals, not being able to naturally move on to sleep mode. 

Overall, not using social media really refreshed my mind and kept me focused on things that are more important. Scientists actually stated that social media raises our dopamine level and stops us from working on our priorities by making us addicted to dopamine.

But I’m gonna be honest, I can’t give up texting my friends. 

Can you?