On the afternoon of January 31, 2025 I made an announcement on Instagram and Facebook that I would be taking February 2025 off of social media and not returning until March.

I took the month of January off social media last year and wrote about how it went here.

This year I took February instead of January off of social media and wanted to share how the experience went my second time around. My motivations for taking the break were different this time so that impacted how I felt.

Why did I take a break from social media?

I had two main reasons for wanting a break from social media, both heavily related to my mental health.

This break was shortly after the U.S. presidential inauguration of Donald Trump, so a large portion of the content I was seeing was related to politics. I already read the news regularly, so a lot of commentary on social media as well was making me feel overwhelmed.

The second reason was we are in progress right now of determining where Markell will go to college in the fall. As we receive decisions from schools and are reviewing our options (which has led to me to feeling a lot of complicated emotions as is) I was struggling seeing fellow parents posting where their teen has already decided to attend since the decision hasn’t been as clear cut for our family.

What did I miss on social media?

What I missed seeing was content from creators I follow, some of my friend’s updates, and I missed some interesting conversations from parents in our school community in online groups that I am in.

Do I feel it helped with my mental health?

It was honestly such a relief for me to know that I wouldn’t log on social media and feel triggered by something I saw. I needed to protect myself from exacerbating negative feelings I was already having. By giving myself a month off social media at a time where my emotions were not totally in check, I was able to take a step back and take care of myself. And then, when I did return to social media, I was more prepared mentally to handle the content.

What are my takeaways and was anything different from the first social media break I took?

I honestly found that I really didn’t miss social media that much during the month I was off it, which was different than the first time I took a social media break. I really needed the break for my mental health so rather than it feeling like a fun experiment like the first time I took a break, this time it felt like a smart choice to protect myself. Once it was March 1st and I was able to be on social media again, I spent some time on Instagram catching up but overall haven’t really found I am as interested in social media at the same level since. I think when you pivot your time to other things you need to do, or want to do, it doesn’t feel like you are missing out quite as much. I was really busy in February and my free time was easily filled with seeing friends and family, visiting colleges, and getting lots of errands and to-do’s done.

Have you taken a social media break? Would you take one?