So this weekend I was given another little challenge from my nanny: 
HOW ON EARTH WOULD I MANAGE WITH NO SOCIAL MEDIA FOR 24 HOURS!!!
– this was my initial thought process, but then I thought it could be quite interesting to see if I could manage and be more focussed on ‘real life’ considering the whole world seems to be obsessed with social media these days.
My Nan agreed to let me start the challenge the next evening as I needed my phone turned on for work, even though this would be on a Friday and a friend from Uni was planning to visit to go for drinks..
It was nearing to the end of the working day on the Friday so I had to make all of my evening plans set in stone before the removal of my phone at 6:55pm and meeting at 9pm. Luckily my friend lives near me so said she would pick me up the way at 8:50pm and head to the bar together – which in the end I was double grateful for as the rest of the gang didn’t even arrive until 9:45, now that would have been a nightmare and I probably would have had to speak to random people to pass the time (or probably get pretty wasted with the bar staff) as I wouldn’t have had my phone on me to browse Facebook, Twitter, Instagram etc (god forbid socialising on my own with strangers….)
As the night went on, it became obvious how much as a generation that we rely on our phones, I mean even if we aren’t using them they are out on the table for easy access and idle hands. But for me, it was actually really nice and enabled me to focus on catching up with friends without feeling the need to check my phone! Luckily we went to a small bar and then moved on to a small club so it was easy to stick close to everyone, unlike when you go to a bigger club and ALWAYS lose everyone at some point so spend ages on your phone trying to meet again! However, one friend did go missing somehow in this tiny place but he reappeared an hour later at the bar for a tasty gin&ting!
So it got to nearly 4am, & hometime was approaching which then came the decision to walk home 15 minutes up the high street filled with weird drunk people or fork out and extra £10 for a taxi (extortionate!!!) but I decided this was safer to pay than walk alone without a phone to call someone just in case, as Stokes Croft can attract some real strange characters even in daylight!
The toughest time of the no phone challenge has to be the morning after as I usually always text friends about funny points that happened throughout the night, and always sit and scroll through Facebook being nosey looking at everyone else’s photos and updates! Luckily I live with my boyfriend so I had him around to annoy and keep me company without feeling too unattached from the world – we also done lots of productive things like watch Luther and have a nice walk (to the shops to buy dinner…..) haha!
It soon came to 6pm on Saturday nearing my challenge end and it was slightly terrible how much I began to crave clicking on the ‘F’ tab on my laptop.. IT IS SO SAD! The moment it reached 6:55pm I was back on there and was greeted to a measly 4 notifications (including those frequent event ones!!!) and aimlessly scrolled through looking at people’s updates (mostly of people that I hardly even talk to or like!).
Morale of the challenge: we rely on social media way too much and I apparently waste a lot of my time on there, which I don’t like to admit, however in this day and age we do tend to need it all to make plans and change these plans because there is always so much going on and everyone is dotted around the world travelling in different places that it’s pretty hard to keep in contact with friends and family without these methods! I remember the days of using a landline phone plugged into the wall arranging to meet friends at the park to play after school and you had to be there on time or miss out on the fun!
So as mentioned before, things are a bit different now and I’m glad we have the technology that we do, so I probably will not be turning my phone off again out of choice but definitely will be more conscious of time wasting (except from when I’m bored at work and need a little break – that’s okay right???!!!)
Thanks for the challenge nanny!
❤
adayinthelifeofkara 