She Quit Social Media for 4 Years—And What Happened Next Will Make You Rethink Your Screen Time Forever!
Added on June 15, 2025 inASTROLOGY CARDS
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Ever wonder what would happen if a Gen Zer actually slammed the brakes on social media — you know, the very thing everyone swears is basically their personality? Well, buckle up, because Quynh Van did exactly that. She ripped Instagram, Twitter, and all that jazz right out of her life four years ago and, spoiler alert, she did not turn into a cave-dwelling hermit. Instead, she got this crazy, refreshing chance to become her own most authentic self — without the endless scroll nose-diving her into comparison hell. And while Mercury’s doing its second retrograde dance this month, maybe it’s whispering, “Take a step back, rethink your feed, and reclaim your time.” Van’s story is like a cosmic slap of clarity in a world drowning in likes and filters. She found more time, fewer comparisons, stronger emotions, and even better relationships. Intrigued? You might wanna listen. LEARN MORE.
For Gen Zers, social media is pretty much stereotyped as the basis of their personality. Whilst many of those born during the beginning of Gen Z, myself included, didn’t grow up with all the social media apps that are popular now, a good portion of our teenage and adult years have been permeated by Instagram and TikTok.
However, a Gen Zer named Quynh Van admitted that she decided to take a step back from all of her social media accounts for a couple of years. In a TikTok video, Van spoke about how she spent her time when she was no longer scrolling on her phone, and explained that it was actually a lot better than most people would assume.
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“I quit social media four years ago, and it completely changed my life,” Van began in her video. “For background, I deleted everything. Instagram, Twitter, everything, back in the beginning of 2021. It is now 2025, and I just started TikTok like a month ago, and this is the only social media I have now.”
Van explained that the four years she spent offline taught her a number of lessons. One of the first things she noticed was that she became a much more interesting person when she didn’t have social media. She pointed out that she realized this because she wasn’t spending all of her time looking at what other people were doing with their lives.
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“You’re not consuming what other people are wearing, what they’re thinking, what they’re saying, and you have space for your own thoughts,” Van recalled. “You have space for learning new hobbies, reading new books, reading articles. So you just become more interesting because you’re present in your actual self.”
A 2023 Comparison Culture study conducted by The Cybersmile Foundation found that around nine out of 10 Gen Zers see themselves negatively and feel dissatisfied with their lives, while three in four admitted to wanting to change aspects of their bodies as a result of comparing themselves with others on social media platforms. Van insisted that because you’re not in a social media bubble, you’re not being influenced by other people.
“It’s really refreshing because you know the person you’re becoming is who you’re meant to be. Then, eventually, when you’re there, you just settle into yourself.”
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The Harris Poll found that about half of Gen Z adults (47%) report that they use social media for 2-4 hours per day, 60% of the sample spend at least 4 hours a day, and 22% said they spend seven or more hours each day. Considering that all of us have our phones glued to our hands, it’s quite easy to spend most of the day logging in and out of social media.
For Van, she explained that without social media, she was amazed at how much more time she had in the day to be productive and do other things. She admitted that life stopped disappearing when she wasn’t scrolling anymore. “My days would feel longer. I would feel more fulfilled,” she said. “I would fill it with so much stuff. Learning, reflecting, moving. I was actually doing things and I was building a life instead of just watching one go by.”
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“This is one of the best things that happened when I deleted social media,” Van said. “I just stopped comparing myself. I just think it’s a natural tendency for humans to compare.”
Van explained that while not having social media doesn’t stop the constant comparison, it does make it easier not to have a direct window into how other people are living. She recalled that when she was offline, she only knew what was happening to her and the people around her. It felt both right and natural for Van.
“I was really able to break that toxic mentality of just always feeling left behind and comparing myself to everyone. Now that I have TikTok, it’s kind of come back, but when I was completely offline, I didn’t really feel that.”
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Van insisted that, when she didn’t have social media, she was forced to sit with her emotions. Because she wasn’t getting the dopamine hits from her phone, she no longer had an outlet to escape and avoid her emotions with social media.
Instead, Van had to learn to sit with the discomfort of negative emotions and learn to face them herself instead of hiding behind her phone. She said that it really changed everything for her, and now she’s noticed that she’s become stronger and more emotionally resilient.
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“You just show up differently,” Van claimed. “People can feel that you’re more present, you listen better. You feel so present with yourself, and you cherish them more because you just cherish your day-to-day life.”
Van recalled that it felt impossible at the time to delete Instagram, but once she did, she realized that the most important people in her life were those she saw every single day, instead of acquaintances on social media. She admitted that the biggest adjustment to deleting her accounts was learning that she could survive without them.
“I highly recommend it. Even if it’s just for a little bit. You’re gonna see yourself change,” Van said. “I promise it’ll only be positive, you will only change for the better. It’s just so peaceful out here.”
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Nia Tipton is a staff writer with a bachelor’s degree in creative writing and journalism who covers news and lifestyle topics that focus on psychology, relationships, and the human experience.
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