22 Reasons Why The World Needs a Social Media Detox Week

CurlyEllie would like to invite you to join us for World Social Media Detox Week starting on 31 March 2023, the 7th year anniversary of our first Social Media post 

Staying off all social media for a week has been shown in a study to increase happiness.

At CurlyEllie though, we love Social Media, and we appreciate the immense value it has brought, and can bring, to our lives and experiences. That’s why we’re encouraging a healthy relationship with Social Media by taking a break, to allow our frazzled brains to recover and rediscover our socials skills! 

Here is our first ever Social Media Post on 31 March 2016!!

Social Media has so many benefits and provides a wealth of opportunities to empower yourself.

You can create and maintain social connections and build a support network, especially when the going gets rough in your every day life.

I have made so many friends and discovered new and exciting things on Social Media and without my community, CurlyEllie would not be what it is at the moment.

A study conducted by Carnegie Mellon University found that people who sent or received more messages, comments and timeline posts reported improvements in social support, depression and loneliness.

There is so much information out there in the social media world, much more that when I was growing up in a pre-social media world and its amazing to have all this information in a swipe!

The term ‘digital detox’ was added to the Oxford English Dictionary in 2013, just six years after the launch of the first iPhone. You don’t need to read any of the research or statistics (available here) on our relationship with tech to know we have a problem. Just walk down an average street or look around a restaurant to see what’s happening. It’s very easy to see that our lives have become unbalanced as a result of being glued to our smartphones all day.

On the flip slide, there are many reasons why it is important to take time out to detox. It can quickly and easily be toxic and harm your mental health.

Join us as we celebrate World Social Media Detox Week starting on 31 March 2023.

Here is why we are detoxing :

1. UK adults spend an average of 8 hours 41 minutes a day on screens (more time than they are asleep) and UK children spend 6 1/2 hours a day on screens.
2. Two in five adults (40%) first look at their phone within five minutes of waking up, rising to 65% of those aged under 35.
3. 62% of polled UK adults say they ‘hate’ how much time they spend on their phone.
4. A study found that just seeing the Facebook logo can spark cravings that are difficult to ignore.
5. A recent study by Binghamton University found that women were more likely to exhibit susceptibility to smartphone addiction than men.
6. A link has been found between the surge in screen-use and mental health struggles, especially amongst young people.
7. One study from Notre Dame University-Louaize on university students found that high avoidant attachment, low self-esteem and high anxiety level may lead to a tendency for smartphone addiction, compounding the negative impacts of digital technology itself.
8. Almost half of the 18-34-year-olds said their social media feeds made them feel unattractive.
9. A study by the American Journal of Preventive Medicine found that heavy social media users were twice as likely to report experiencing social isolation.
10. In 2017, Instagram was rated as the worst social media platform for its impact on the mental health of young people.
11. There is a strong link between heavy internet use and depression, with heavy users 5x more likely to suffer from depression than non-heavy users.
12. 52% of school-age students said social media makes them feel less confident about their appearance and how interesting their life is.
13. A study by the National Institute of Mental Health has found a strong and significant association between social media use and depression.
14. Scientists have also found a link between heavy Facebook use and depressive symptoms, including low self-esteem.
15. A 2016 study by the University of Pittsburgh revealed that those who use 7-10 social media platforms were 3x more likely to report depressive symptoms than those who use 2 or fewer.
16. Staying off all social media for a week has been shown in a study to increase happiness.
17. Social media makes 7 million Brits ‘depressed’ looking at friends’ perfect lives
18. In 2016 a Pew Research Centre poll found that one in five employees are distracted at work by social media.
19. A link has been found between excessive social media use and poor academic performance.
20. The act of just receiving a notification, even if you don’t reply to it, is enough to severely distract you.A 2015 survey conducted by Deloitte found that around 59% of smartphone users check a social media platform in the five minutes prior to going to bed, and within 30 minutes of waking up.
21. A University of Sheffield study highlights that spending an hour a day on social media reduces the probability of a child being completely happy with their life by 14%.
22. 39% of UK children say they sometimes communicate with their parents by text, email and social media whilst being at home at the same time

Our last thoughts -  it is how you use the technology that matters. 

We very much hope that you will be able to join in what we know will be a challenge for some! The event will run from midnight on the 31 March 2023 to midnight on 8^th April 2023.