If there’s one thing that’s defined my generation, it’s social media. Gen Z spends over three hours a day on apps like YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok. These platforms are literally designed to grab, keep, and monetize our attention. Growing up in a world increasingly dominated by social media, it can be hard to resist these forces vying for our time.
But time is our most valuable resource. I want to use mine intentionally—to create, not just consume. To write stories that matter to me.
I’ve been writing a book for the past four years. It’s my ninth novel, and it’s taken far longer to write than any of my previous books. I once wrote, edited, and published a novel of a similar length in four months.
This book is more complex than any I’ve written before, but I have a sneaking suspicion that’s not the main reason it’s taken so long to finish.
Social media is, in many ways, the artist’s perfect antagonist. It consumes time that could be spent creating. It’s a comparison machine. And for those of us who create content, it tempts us to invest more and more time into building an audience instead of doing the real work—in my case, writing my novel.
So I wondered: what would happen if I quit social media for a month? Would I write more? Would my online audience evaporate? And the biggest question—could I finally finish my book?
Here’s how it went.
Day 1
For the next 30 days, I’m not going to be consuming any social media content. Since that doesn’t feel like a big enough challenge, I’m also including podcasts, newsletters, and news websites. In place of those things, I hope to spend more time listening to audiobooks and reading books.
I also won’t be checking analytics. This means I’ll have no idea how my videos are performing over the next month.
And of course, the focus, beyond simply quitting social media, is on writing. I want to see how much I can write this month. I want to see if stepping away from social media will help increase my creativity and artistic output.
With that said… I’d better get to writing.
On day one, I went to a writing club in SoHo. The club meets every week to write together, discuss the craft, and share what we’re working on. It’s not just fiction writers you’ll meet there—some are writing blogs, essays, or even code.
The book I’m writing this month, the book I’ve been writing on and off for the past four years, is Catalyst of Control. It’s a dark sci-fi novel about the creation of quantum mind control. Our protagonist, the young, ambitious Kyrus Varden, finds himself thrust into a secretive race to develop mind control technology. He struggles with his own desire for control, rooted in his past, which you glimpse in flashbacks throughout the book.
If I had to compare it to something, I’d say it’s like what would happen if Blade Runner 2049, Oppenheimer, and The Tragedy of Macbeth had a book baby.
Day 2
I have a few goals for this month, things I’d like to see happen as a result of this experiment.
Obviously, I’d like to write more. I’d also like to write faster—increase the number of words I can get down in an hour. I’ll be tracking my writing sessions to see how my writing speed changes over the course of the next 30 days.
I’d also like to worry less about the numbers on social media. As a creator, it’s easy to fixate on how many subscribers or followers you have, or how many views you get. But I don’t want my self-worth to be tied to those things.
On a similar note, I want to escape the trap of comparison. On the internet, there’s always someone making something better than you. Which can be inspiring… but also discouraging. Sometimes both at the same time. I want to take this month to focus on my own artistic voice without comparing it to others.
We’ll see how it goes.
Day 4
Social media is inherently disconnected from the real world. You can’t have your attention on a screen and be present in nature at the same time.
I love going for walks around my neighborhood. I know, I sound like an old man. But moving through the world, taking in the sights, with no particular direction or purpose, no connection to the internet, is refreshing. I especially like to go at sunset—more dramatic lighting. Going for a walk gives your thoughts time to coalesce. It reminds you of how interesting the real world around you is, if only you stop and pay attention to it.
I had a great idea for the story while I was on a walk. For spoiler reasons, I can’t tell you what it is, but it’s something that ties together different subplots and crystalizes the stakes of the conflict. And who knows, maybe if I’d been spending more brainpower thinking about other people’s creations, or if I hadn’t gone on that walk, I wouldn’t have had the idea.
So if you find yourself stuck in your story, try taking a stroll.
Day 12
I have to say, this is a lot harder than I expected. The zero social media content consumption part has actually been surprisingly easy; I don’t miss it at all. I’ve been enjoying a lower-stimulation lifestyle. I’ve finished five audiobooks and spent more time playing the piano, reading, and of course, writing.
But writing, especially writing consistently for long stretches of time, can be difficult. Most days, I love it. Some days, it feels like I can easily slip into a flow state where the words come easily and quickly. Today was not one of those days. It’s been interesting to see how my writing speed varies from day to day since I started tracking my sessions recently. The variability is pretty wild. My fastest speed so far has been 648 words per hour, and my slowest was 222. Usually, it’s somewhere in the middle.
Day 13
Today’s writing went much better than yesterday’s. I actually had a lot of fun, and I hit my highest writing speed since I started tracking my sessions.
Day 14
Somewhat ironically, almost halfway through my 30 days off social media, I went to an event for content creators. It was hosted at the Squarespace headquarters, which has one of the best rooftop views of New York I’ve experienced.
Social media undoubtedly has its problems, but events like these highlight the best side of these platforms for creation. Over the past year, I’ve met a lot of fellow creatives at similar in-person events across the city. The social aspect of social media is both its greatest strength and its most potent danger. At its worst, it silos users in ideological echo chambers, radicalizing and dividing populations. A more benign risk is that it replaces face-to-face relationships with shallower digital substitutes. But at its best, social media builds community and fosters connection that spills out into the real world. That’s what I experienced today.
Day 17
One of my side projects recently has been designing a dedicated writing workspace. Quitting social media is part of my broader desire to curate and intentionally design my digital environment. But I find that my physical environment also has an effect on my creativity. I want to create a space just for writing that I find inspiring and beautiful.
That said, the full extent of my personal space is a small New York City bedroom, so I’m a little short on room. Thankfully, writing isn’t exactly a space-intensive activity. Other than, of course, when you need to pace the length of a room to solve a plot hole.
This writing workspace will be beneath my loft bed, a space that used to be occupied by a 15-square-foot LEGO world. May it rest in pieces. I’ve already got the basics—a table, rug, and a couple small bookshelves—and now I’m working on the details to bring it to life.
Aesthetically, I’m going for something evocative of a winter forest and mountains, with these wall panels as the centerpiece. This choice was largely inspired by my publishing company, Winter Forest Press. The plan is to build two LEGO mountainside dioramas to top the bookshelves, each inspired by a scene from one of my books. The one I’m working on here is based on a flashback chapter of Catalyst of Control.
To improve the space both functionally and visually, I added a few elements like this lamp and pencil holder.
This writing workspace is by no means finished yet, but it’s a start.
Day 28
Social media is all about the present. Trends come and go in an instant. There’s always breaking news to catch up on. Culture and conversation move faster than I can keep up.
So it’s been refreshing over the past few weeks to take a step back from that. To not worry so much about staying up to date with everything that’s going on with everyone, everywhere. I’ve actually found myself reflecting a lot and even delving into the past. I’ve been reading old journal entries, tracing the arc of my journey as a writer, thinking about what’s changed and what hasn’t over the years.
Today was particularly nostalgic. I went to see a play at the venue where I had rehearsals eleven years ago for the play in which I would later have my Broadway debut. Just stepping into the lobby, the unique scent of the space brought me back to that time.
In a way, social media doesn’t just take time from us in the present—it also keeps us from fully remembering and reflecting on our time in the past. We shouldn’t spend too long dwelling on years gone by. But if we don’t give ourselves the space to look back, we’ll miss valuable perspective on our current situation. Sometimes, it’s only by seeing where we’ve come from that we can understand where we’re going. Taking time away from social media has helped me experience that.
The Results
It’s over. I have officially spent 30 days off social media. And I’ve learned a lot.
First, the practical takeaways. Taking time away from these platforms, and returning to them after the month was over, illuminated which ones have a positive effect in my life and which… don’t.
Instagram, for me, is very clearly a net negative as a consumer. More than any other platform, I find it stirs up feelings of comparison. Yes, it can sometimes be inspiring, but too much of the time, it’s more discouraging than anything else. Going forward, I want to only use Instagram for creation, not consumption.
I think YouTube does provide value for me, but I want to be very selective in how I use it. I’ve learned a lot from YouTube, including many of the skills I use to produce these videos. But as with its competitors, it’s optimized to keep you watching, to hold your attention captive. To counteract that, I use an extension to hide suggested videos. If I’m going to watch something, it’ll be with a specific purpose in mind—either to learn something or to be inspired.
I’ve never been a consumer of content on any other social media platforms, so I don’t have much to say about them. Although the fact that I’ve never used them should tell you something about my opinion.
Over the past 30 days, I’ve also consumed zero newsletters and podcasts, and I haven’t watched or read any news. Consuming less of all kinds of media was really nice. I will be incorporating most of these back into my life, but very selectively.
Now onto what I got done during the experiment.
I wrote more of Catalyst of Control in the past 30 days than I had in any month since June 2020, the month after I started writing the book. I didn’t finish writing it—it’s not a short book—but I made significant progress, which I’m very happy about. In addition to simply putting words down, I also fine-tuned the outline and had a few creative breakthroughs along the way.
I read 11 books, which is definitely more than usual. I was helped in part by replacing podcasts with audiobooks.
And I set up a workspace dedicated to writing. By the end, I hadn’t quite finished it, but it’s looking a lot better than it did a month ago.
Beyond these numbers and facts, the real benefit of these 30 days has been space. Mental space. Life has felt refreshingly slower and simpler. At the beginning of this experiment, I hoped I would escape feelings of comparison, and I did. Sure, I occasionally wondered what other people were up to, but not being able to see it on social media drastically diminished that. I could focus purely on my own life and work without comparing it to other people’s. And since I wasn’t checking analytics, I was also largely freed from caring about the numbers online. That felt nice.
Quitting social media won’t solve all your problems. It won’t turn you into a great writer overnight. But it can remind you of what’s important. And it can give you some much-needed space to create.
Two Months Later
Now, I have to be honest, my relationship with social media wasn’t completely transformed after this 30-day experiment. It was surprisingly easy to slip back into the same patterns of comparison and feeling an incessant desire to keep up with an endless torrent of news and art and content.
I’d be lying if I said I no longer care about analytics or don’t feel dejected when a video performs badly. That may just be an inherent part of being a creator. But taking a step back from social media highlighted an important fact—that these numbers are completely disconnected from the value of what I make. And the best thing any creator can do is focus on what they’re truly passionate about. The act of creation, not the numerical results.
Sometimes, I found myself wishing I was still doing a 30-day break, just so I would have a good excuse not to use these platforms. Which is ridiculous. None of us need an excuse not to be on social media. Even those of us whose work is largely based on producing content for these platforms can step away.
And I would encourage you to try stepping away. It doesn’t have to be for a whole month, but maybe a day or a week.
Even if you don’t quit social media, there are practical things you can do to diminish the grip these apps have on your attention. First, just turn off all the notifications. Believe me, and I’m saying this as someone who uses these platforms for my business, you do not need them. Second, be discerning in whom you follow. Currently, I cap the number of accounts I follow on Instagram at 100, since there’s no way I could keep up with more than that. I’m also very selective in whom I subscribe to and whose emails I get and what podcasts I listen to. There is an astounding amount of content out there, so be a critical curator. Only give your attention to what deserves it. And third, choose to use social media at certain times and not others. If you don’t, it can become something you check repeatedly throughout the day, which is just a great way to break your focus on important tasks. Set aside a few minutes once or twice a day to use social media, and cap it at that.
Coda
Social media can feel incredibly overwhelming at times, like we’re at the mercy of technocratic overlords. And undoubtedly, many of the problems with social media are the fault of these companies, which too often put profits over integrity and the wellbeing of their users. But at the same time, we have agency. There are decisions we can make to improve our experience of the online world.
However powerful these algorithms are, ultimately, the power is with us, the users and creators. We can decide how we interact with these platforms. It’s our responsibility to make the internet a better place by choosing where we give our attention and what messages we put out into the world.
Ultimately, how we choose to interact with social media is a matter of priorities. There’s nothing inherently evil about social media. It can be a way to learn, to connect with people, to grow a community. But every minute we spend on social media is a minute not spent writing, or traveling, or meeting new people in the real world.
So you have to ask yourself: what are your priorities? What kind of life do you want to live, and what role does social media play in that life? At its worst, social media diminishes independent thought. Using it becomes a compulsion rather than a choice. So our responsibility as people of the internet age is to act with intention. To examine the way we use these platforms, ask what value they bring to us, and make choices accordingly.
If we’re not careful, some day, we’ll find ourselves at the end of our lives having never truly lived. Having never created anything that matters. Having wasted our most precious resource—time. By then, it’ll be too late.
But it’s not yet. Because today, we have a choice. Every day, we have a choice. The choice of what to give our attention to.
Time is our most valuable resource. So the question is… how will you choose to use yours?
If you want to watch the video versions of these blog posts, head over to my YouTube channel here, and subscribe for more videos on writing.
– Grayson Taylor
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