Happy New Year Reader!

It is 2026, we are back at our computers and how does it feel like the holiday was already so long ago? I visited both my parents (#childofdivorce) and also had a dear friend's wedding, so perhaps that contributed to the fact that it flew by! But that wasn't all that was crazy this holiday...

I took a break from social media.

Not just from posting, but from scrolling too. TikTok and Instagram were both deleted off my phone and iPad (still are!) and it's been over 3 weeks. We need to talk about it...

Why I wanted to take a break from social

Running a business online, you are almost glued to your social media as a part of your work. I'd often point to this as to why it wasn't that bad for me to take a few minutes to scroll in between work tasks. But I'd been noticing time slipping away even faster and more importantly, I'd notice that as soon as my boyfriend and I got back from any errand, we'd both immediately plop down to "scroll for a minute." The addiction felt very real and it was affecting the level of connection I had in my life.

Once I noticed it, frankly, I was sort of disgusted. I know all the data about how social media shortens our attention spans, negatively affects our mental health and is downright addictive, and yet, here I was.

I've also been feeling a bit unmoored when it comes to stuff work-wise and yet, I'd often tell myself that social media might give me some "ideas." I wasn't researching, or brainstorming, I was numbing. I wasn't going to feel better about anything if I kept doing what I was doing.

I wanted that time back to reflect and deepen my relationships. I wanted to retrain my brain away from short form content and back to the longer form work that really inspires me: books, movies, newsletters, articles, long-form YouTube videos (not Shorts). I wanted to see if all those cautionary tales about how it affects our brain might have snuck up on me. It was time to go cold turkey.

The rules of the detox

No TikTok, No Instagram on my phone or iPad. It stayed logged in on my computer so I could check them on my birthday and again the day after my friend's wedding to see all the cute recap photos.

YouTube could stay as long as I avoided Shorts. Long form videos felt valuable, but Shorts are just the same dopamine addiction nested within a much slower paced app. Pinterest feels way more inspiring to me and even though it is infinite scroll, it's not the hyper-engaging video so I allowed it. (I was also still working on my vision boards for next year and it's a must have!) And even though the Notes tab on Substack reminds me of old Twitter, it made the cut because the thoughtful, long form content there is exactly what I wanted to be spending more time with. The risks of infinite scroll were worth it for the trove of good content.

The detox started on Dec 15th. I said I'd go at least until Jan 4th (barring the two exceptions above). But the 4th rolled around and I had no desire to get back on, so we'll see when I decide to pull it. Which brings me to my thoughts on the experiment...

The results

I knew that it'd take some time to break the habit of swiping for the app, maybe a week or so? So I wasn't surprised when my thumb was constantly swiping to where the apps usually are. But my brain wasn't just craving those apps, it wanted infinite scroll. In the first few days, I actually found myself opening LinkedIn and Substack way more just because I wanted to scroll somewhere! (Promptly deleted LinkedIn off my phone and started watching my Substack use more closely). I hoped it was just the withdrawal and would pass.

But then the second week hit. And the third. I'm dismayed to report that even now, over three weeks later, I still feel my thumb subconsciously going looking for "scrolling" in any form it can get, multiple times a day. When does it happen most? When I'm feeling something uncomfortable, when I don't want to tackle something hard, or when I'm bored (and don't want to sit with my thoughts). I intellectually knew I'd been using social media to numb but it's been a painful wakeup call.

Did I feel left out? I saw nobody's cute family photos at Christmas. I saw no "Christmas gift hauls" or "post-Christmas doorbusters." And what do you know, my comparisonitis and desire to shop was non-existent. The insecurities around looking a certain way, dressing a certain way or having certain things dropped quickly to near zero, just by not consuming content for hours a day.

Am I surprised? Of course not. Did I think I was more immune to those subliminal messages than I was? Sure bet.

Social media can send anybody into a comparison spiral but there's also the work layer of it for me. Even when I'm "off the clock," something I see in a casual scroll can trigger my self-doubt: "my editing isn't that good," "I wish I had thought of something like that," "should I be trying out that format?"

As someone who's created on social media for a long time, I often find myself defending the platforms because:

1. They're one of the most powerful way to make money, especially for women. (As someone who built an almost 6 figure business in my first year on TikTok.) And I believe that a lot of the shade thrown at social-driven entrepreneurs (influencers, content creators, online businesses) might be thinly veiled misogyny where we unintentionally see a predominantly female way of building a business as less valuable.
2. Social media is where some of the world's best creativity is happening. Storytelling, editing, positioning, visuals - it is the frontier where creatives are refining their craft and I love witnessing it (even though it does trigger me).
3. My livelihood at least partially depended on it. So you could say I have a very vested interest.

What happens next

While I was semi-offline, I read an article (which of course now I can't find) that observed if an addict of any other substance takes a break from that drug or alcohol and then decides to go back (often claiming they'll "moderate it better this time"), we call that a relapse.

So many of us acknowledge we're addicted to social media, or our phones generally, but yet, like those addicts claiming "No, I'll keep it under control this time," go right back to the substances making us depressed. If we know it's making us less happy, less focused, less productive - is keeping up with our friends and seeing what's going on online really worth all the risks that come with it?

The apps aren't back on my phone so I haven't "relapsed" yet. Honestly, a big part of me wants to stay off for as long as I can. And that's prompted all sorts of questions as to whether I want to continue to build a business that relies on me being online in that way.

Just because I've built in a career in social media, doesn't mean I need to commit myself to it moving forward. On the other hand, it's a highly valuable, in demand skill that might not be in my financial interest to walk away from. So, behind the scenes, I'm exploring my options. I can't turn to the search bar or explore page to find other people in the same position but honestly, I think I'm far better off doing the harder work of tuning into my intuition for the answers.

Would I recommend a social media detox to others? Absolutely. I've found myself happier, more engaged and less twitchy. Might the withdrawal have the unintended side effects of having you question your entire life? Based on a sample size of one, yes it might! For now, do with that what you will, my friends :)

Love your internet big sister,

Samantha (Founder of Eldest & Co.)

P.S. I had pre-scheduled some pretty juicy blog posts to go up over the holiday. Check them out here. ​