Testimonials from No Social Media November Participants

  • "NoSo November completely changed my entire world, I saw massive improvements in my anxiety and insecurity. I felt so much happier within the first week of not having social media - specifically Instagram. I used to wake up and the first thing I would do was just scroll for hours. I used every second of free time I had on social media, and removing that stress from my life helped my anxiety so much.

    — High School Participant

  • Absolutely a positive experience to say the least! I found myself spending way more time on social media than doing things that would improve my mental health, and to be able to disconnect was a joy. I was able to really focus on my college courses achieving better grades, spent more time with family and friends, and had the time to expand my small business. Even after the month was over, I’ve continued to keep notifications off and I don’t desire to sit and scroll! I will definitely be participating in NOSO for years to come!

    -Suicide Loss Survivor

  • "This month has come with its own set of challenges, but it's helped a lot to be able to process everything I would have otherwise delayed. This has also helped a lot in being able to reconnect to some of my friends that I haven't talked to in a while, and by reaching out to them, I've been able to work on restabilizing and reaffirming my goals despite how complicated everything has been this year."

    — Student Participant 2020

  • I love doing this detox, the past two years I have done this my mental health goes up and I get a break for the social standards in a weird way.

    -2022 Participant

  • It was an awesome experience for me. Far less challenging than I anticipated. I had more time on my hands to write poetry, create art, see family and friends. I was more present when off of my phone. I was not comparing myself to other peoples feeds.

    -Student Participant

  • "Your session was a game changer for (one of our students). He is completely off social media and has purchased a basic flip phone"

    — Dartmouth College

  • My experience was great. I felt more disconnect from artificial snapchat conversations and more immersed in real life ones. I made more friends because I talk to people in my college classes instead of scrolling on my phone. I also started reading, started a garden, my studying improved, and am overall more satisfied with my level of productivity. Now that I’m back on social media, my use is way less than it used to be. I honestly don’t even look forward to opening it because I realized how much I don’t care as much as it is a compulsion.

    -2022 Participant

  • I’m soo happy I joined NoSo. I have only given up facebook and instagram (I’m old😎) and it made me realize how much of my time- which I always complain I don’t have enough of- I was wasting! I’m not sure I’m going to go back. I also noticed my anxiety fueled thinking about what others thought based on my posts was gone - the time away has helped my focus as well

    -2023 Participant Kara Lewis

  • The NoSo experience this year has been game-changing. I feel absolutely rejuvenated and mentally clear. I'm getting better sleep, and overall feel happier and more productive. The only social media I kept on my phone was LinkedIn because I need it for work. Yes, I've definitely replaced some of the mindless scrolling from Instagram and Twitter with LinkedIn (which I never used to use that much). But interestingly enough, it's been a net positive. I've started posting more and making some great new connections, and learning more things, all because I'm spending more time on LinkedIn and less time on the more *useless* social medias. LinkedIn can still be toxic and addictive, but it's a step in the right direction. I can't wait until NoSo is a huge mainstream thing and a huge population of people participate. It's so necessary in this world and it's easier to do it together.

    -2023 Participant

  • I finally feel like myself again. This year has been really tough for me. Every month was like one slap to the face after another. But this month I have felt very at peace, and I attribute that largely to my absence from social media. I’m gonna stay off social media for the foreseeable future

    -2023 Participant

  • I've been really enjoying and grateful for this detox. Fortunately, it coincided with a move into a new home at the start of the month, so I've used the combo of the two to springboard into better habits. While I definitely found myself looking more to Netflix and sort of ghost scrolling in my phone (looking to e-mail, the most interesting thing on my phone without socials..) I've moved through most of the stickiness and now reading more, journaling more, listening to way more podcasts and find myself much more creative!

    -2023 Participant

  • This is my third year doing this detox and as always, I absolutely love it!! Before this detox, Instagram was making me really unhappy. I would wake up and the first thing I would do was scroll through all the posts that I had missed overnight and I would feel this sense of anxiety until I had scrolled through all the posts I had missed. Then during school I was thinking about everything I was missing while I was trying to focus on class. Every time I took a picture I was so worried about if it was “instagram worthy” or how many likes it was getting. When I did this detox my screen time went down from 6 hours a day to 2. I felt less anxiety, less sadness, loneliness and my thoughts around body image weren’t as loud. Now, when I wake up I see a text from my best friend or a reminder to journal. I take whatever pictures I want and I don’t worry about them living up to this unrealistic instagram standard. My friendships are deeper because I have actual conversations with them instead of sending them a picture of the wall on snapchat. NoSo November changed my life and I will always be so grateful to Maddie for starting it!!

    -3rd year participant Clara Pierce