Breaking from Social Media: A Memoir

"Deactivate your account here."
"Are you sure?"
"We're sorry to see you go."

This year, I took the opportunity to become a Gamma Chi, which means that I disaffiliated from my sorority for the purposes of becoming a recruitment counselor.  The most important part of the job-- anonymity. Anonymity? What does that have to do with anything?
Ultimately, I needed to be unbiased. Every girl's preferences are unique to her own experiences, so the sorority that was the right fit for me might be the wrong one for the new girls. When recruitment week finally arrived, I told my friends good bye and packed my bags to go live in the local Holiday Inn with the other recruitment councilors for the week.
Deleting my social media accounts helped me on two fronts: further removing myself from the active member's side of the process and hiding my affiliation from the hopefuls, more commonly referred to as PNMs or Potential New Members.
Twitter was the first to go. Personally, it was the platform I was least worried about losing. While I pride myself on my quick wits, I don't usually find the necessity to post each quip for the public eye in 140 characters or less. I learned later that once I deactivated my account, it was gone for good. Well... as "gone for good" that the internet can provide.
Facebook was the most difficult to deactivate logistically. I hopped from page to page before finally finding what I was looking for. I also used Facebook as a method to login to third party platforms, so I had to figure out which accounts might be affected by the change. Unlike Twitter, Facebook kindly saved my account information and let me reactivate the account at a later date.
Instagram played by different rules. I was only required to delete the "Bio" section of my profile as long as I set my account to "Private" mode. I could neither like, nor comment on any post, but I still had access to my feed.
In the beginning of recruitment, I didn't know any of the other Gamma Chis. Most of my friends were members of a sorority, so I felt very isolated by my lack of ability to communicate with them. Confined to a hotel room with three strangers, I felt an urge to bury my nose in my phone. I noticed myself killing time through browsing Instagram and relying on the platform like a crutch to fill the awkward silence. While I did branch out and become close with many of my fellow Gamma Chis, I can't stop myself from remembering the connection between that momentary feeling of isolation and the instant urge to connect via social media outlets.
At the end of the week, I felt liberated. I no longer reached for my phone out of need or boredom. Rather, I sought real human connection. And while I am happy to engage in these platforms again, I think I believe I will repeat a digital detox every year. It's important to be able to take a step back and acknowledge the impact social media has on our everyday lives.