What Really Happens When You Go Off the Grid?

Imagine it. A world without social media. Somewhere, far away from the internet grid.

A world where no one but your closest friends know what you’re up to. Where you don’t post what you’re eating for dinner. A world where you don’t compete for the number of likes on your pictures.

Imagine it.

How nice would that be? A carefree world, full of living in the moment, not living it through your iPhone camera.

Your digital footprint

Sometimes I wonder why I started this blog. Why I opened an account on every social media app. I wonder why I decided to share my whole life story with the internet and still do.

I write this blog post as I’ve just uploaded my first two videos to TikTok, another social media platform that I have succumbed to and will most likely share my life story to.

It’s @orlaghclaire if you want to follow it or check out the videos.

What if we deleted everything?

What would happen if I logged out, deleted all of my social media apps, closed down my website and just lived my life unknown?

I would probably be seen as a recluse, be forgotten about by the 1,000 people that know me but aren’t close friends and be free to live my life without having to document it for Instagram or my blog.

Would I get bored? Probably. After all, what is life these days if you aren’t sharing it online or making people jealous?

Isn’t that how we see the world today? You don’t share your bad days, do you? But if you buy yourself something nice, ooh let me put that on Instagram. If you’re out for dinner in a nice restaurant, let me put that on Instagram. Holidays? Instagram. Birthday? Instagram. Graduation? Instagram.

Instagram, Facebook and other social media apps are the highlight reel of your life. It shows the good times and only the good times, which is why people can get so down about being on there.

When you’re having a not-so-good day and you scroll through your feed, it’s not going to make you feel better by seeing a friend jetting off to Bali for a few weeks, or another friend out having a good time at the local bar, or someone spending quality time with their family.

But then again, you can’t blame them for making you feel worse. You logged on to the app. You chose to scroll knowing that what you would see would make you feel worse. It’s your choice to switch off or log on.

Is it wrong to want to be anonymous?

In today’s society it could be seen as ‘weird’ or ‘odd’ to not have social media accounts – what do you have to hide?

But what if we just wanted a private life, a quiet life, one where you didn’t share it with the rest of the world? Is that so odd?

Since I’ve started to read more, I’ve been switching off from my phone more and more and starting to realize that I’m not actually missing anything when I don’t check through everyone’s Instagram stories on a daily basis.

If the Netflix show You is anything to go by then we should really be switching off, posting less and not being so transparent with important information about our lives, aka, where we live, where we work and where we spend most of our time. Hello murderer.

Is it materialistic or privileged of us if we look at someone like they’re from a different planet if they don’t have an iPhone or android phone? Why do we look at people the same way when they say they don’t have Instagram or Facebook? Is it really that strange to not want to share your life with the internet or read about everyone else’s?

But what about your personal brand?

Personal branding is something I’ve spoken about quite a lot on here and I’ve tried my best over the years to build one for myself. I’ve created this blog, try to be active on LinkedIn, created a professional Twitter and Instagram and try to network as best I can on social media.

So if you were to switch off all of your socials, would you be less likely to get a job? If potential employers were to Google you and found zero results, would your application get rejected?

Do we not like what we don’t know?

Related blog post: Why You Need to Think About Your Personal Brand

In terms of wanting to work in social media, be a social media manager or work in influencer marketing, it’s pretty much a given that you need to be active on social media and interested in social media.

If you were to say social media was the bane of your life, then I don’t really think you’d be the best person for the job.

But what about when it gets too much? When you want to switch off? What happens when something you hate is suddenly your job?

Switching off to switch off

I do sometimes get in my head about social media. I overthink it and I spend too much time on it. I’ve written a few posts about social media in the past and how I don’t think it’s healthy.

But then again, I blog, I post, I share. I enjoy sharing. I’ve just recently gotten the hang of TikTok and I’m loving making videos on there too. But there comes a time when you need to switch off for a while.

Related blog post: 10 Signs That You’re a Social Media Addict

I’ve realized that I’m not missing anything if I don’t check my Instagram feed for a day. I’m not missing anything if I take a day off from Twitter. It’s ok to step away for a while and just enjoy the time you have with yourself or those around you.

Read a book. Go for a walk. Leave your phone at home.

Switch off your phone and switch off your brain.