You must have heard of ‘No Shave November’, and then there were its healthier counterparts; ‘Stoptober’ and ‘Dry January’ which included abstaining from smoking and alcohol respectively. Along the same lines as the previous two, we have ‘Scroll Free September’ right now.

Royal Society for Public Health, which is behind this campaign, is urging people through this challenge to stop using or reduce the use of social media for a month.

How?

Scroll Free September has five levels of challenges- Cold Turkey, Social butterfly, Night Owl, Busy Bee and Sleeping dog. Going Cold Turkey would mean breaking from all social media for 30 days but if that’s too much to give up, there is Night Owl, where you take a break after 6 pm. Cutting off social media at social events and actually socialising and talking to your friends is the challenge set by Social Butterfly. The Sleeping Dog includes checking your social media only when you wake up in the morning and before you go to bed. Finally, the Busy Bee level is aimed at improving your productivity by logging off while at work.

Why?

We cannot imagine our lives without social media now, can we? Even with all the amazing wonders of social media, we can’t deny the fact that it has become an unhealthy obsession. There is plenty of evidence that shows more and more people are being mentally affected by the incessant use of social media.  ‘Scroll Free September’ is an initiative to urge people to take back control of their lives, if not stop using the social media then reduce the time spent online meanwhile concentrating on other aspects of life.

It might be a little difficult to believe your gym visit actually happened without posting a selfie of it but then you can still work out, just don’t post it!