Social Media Cleanse

In collaboration with ABC's new romantic comedy show Selfie, I completed a 24-hour "Social Media Cleanse." The challenge is inspired by Eliza Dooley, the star of Selfie played by Karen Gillan, who is a modern woman with 250k+ followers on social media. With the help of Henry, played by John Cho, Eliza learns to disconnect from technology in order to live in the moment.

Here's how my 24-hours without social media went down!

5:30am - Woke up for work. Usually, I snooze for a bit and check email, Instagram, and Facebook as I get up and brush my teeth. I realized I couldn't, so I was just a zombie as I got ready. I noticed how much I look to social media as a way to pass time, even when I'm at stoplights on my drive to work.

7am-3pm - Coincidentally, I'm teaching my seniors about mass society theory, and students are discussing that the use of technology makes us more passive recipients than active participants in culture. We're talking about whether digital "likes" and "friends" on social media equate affirmations and real relationships.

I had Parent Night until 9pm that evening, so my 15-hour work day helped distract me from the distractions of social media (oh, the irony). I did catch myself wanting to check activity on my phone out of habit.

Have any of you ever disconnected from social media for any period of time?

To watch Eliza's adventures, tune in for ABC's Selfie premiering Tuesday, September 30th 8pm/7pm Central.

Disclosure: This post was sponsored by ABC through their partnership with POPSUGAR Select.

While I was compensated to write a post about ABC Selfie, all opinions are my own.