A few weeks ago, I realized that going on social media was a trigger for me to feel awful about myself. I would compare myself to others and always come up short, and I would base my self worth on how many likes a post got and how many new followers I attracted.

As soon as I figured this out, I decided to go on a social media detox. I quit cold turkey, and for the most part, it’s been wonderful. I do miss the positive aspects though: like being inspired by certain things or even learning about events taking place in my area.

Now I’m wondering whether by removing myself from social media I’m just changing the “C line” rather than learning how to manage my thoughts around it. By deciding to take a social media break, am I just changing a neutral circumstance rather than working on learning how to deal with the feelings that arise due to my thoughts when I scroll through?

Would you recommend returning to it and doing the thought work necessary to interact on social media in a way that doesn’t cause me suffering? Or is this more like quitting drinking or smoking in that it’s better to completely let go of an external input that isn’t serving me?