A teenage girl stares at her phone at night.
Quynh Van, 26, a UX designer based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, gave herself the ultimate challenge for a Gen Zer four years ago: she vowed to quit social media. Now, she has returned to social media on TikTok to share the big difference the sabbatical made in her life.
"I quit social media four years ago, and it completely changed my life," Van said in the video. "For background, I deleted everything—Instagram, Twitter, everything—back in the beginning of 2021. It is now 2025, and I just started TikTok a month ago, and this is the only social media I have."
In a video that has received over 800,000 views, she shares the massive impact that leaving social media had on her life.
What does it feel like to quit social media?
@quynhxvan one of the best decisions I’ve made #slowliving #digitaldetox #selfgrowth #selfdevelopment #mentalhealth #tiktokdiary #advice #selfimprovement #mindfulness #meditation #peace #peaceful #nature #socialmedia
1. She became her authentic self
“You're just a much more interesting person because you're not consuming what other people are wearing, what they're thinking, what they're saying. And you just have space for your own thoughts. You have space for learning new hobbies, reading new books, reading articles. So you just become much more interesting because you're present in your actual self.”
2. She has more time
“It's just so productive and it's so freeing. Life just stops disappearing into a scroll. My days would feel longer. I would feel more fulfilled. 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 and like, looking up from my phone and seeing that four hours had passed.”
Sad teenage girl staring at her phone. via Canva/Photos
3. She stopped comparing herself to others
“I just think it's a natural tendency for humans to compare. You're always going to compare value A to value B. That's just a natural human tendency. You don't need to try and shut it down completely. But it's not normal for us to have a window into everyone's lives at all times. I think that has broken our brains a little bit.”
4. She got in touch with her emotions
“You can't inoculate yourself with dopamine hits and avoid the painful emotions anymore with social media. You have to learn to sit in the discomfort. You have to learn to face yourself and learn to sit with your difficult emotions. I wasn't able to escape my feelings anymore and that really changed everything. Made me stronger, it made me more emotionally resilient, and I was able to gain peace in my own head. Like my brain just felt like green. It's a forest of peace. It was amazing.”
A group of teens staring at their phones. via Canva/Photos
5. Better relationships
“You just show up differently, and people can feel that you're more present, you listen better. You're just so in the present that you really see people when you're with them, and they can feel that, and you feel that with yourself. You feel so present with yourself, and you cherish them more because you just cherish your day-to-day life.”
For some, quitting social media may seem impossible. It’s how most people keep up with their friends these days. Further, the platforms are engineered to control our brain chemistry so much that taking a break feels like detoxing from an addictive substance. But Van wants to remind everyone that it’s possible, even when it may not feel that way.
“Honestly, the biggest thing about deleting my social media was knowing that I can live without it,” she said at the end of her video. “At the time, I felt like I couldn't live without it, and now I know that I can and I'm better for it.”
A child staring at his phone in the classroom.via 
A distressed student with a smartphone sits in the hallway. via 
Young people were free to just be without every move being documented.
Hanging out was just hanging out.
Before cell phones people hung out and were choosy with their photos.
When you were waiting for a call, you had to stay close to the phone.
Having a handheld GPS is pretty darn convenient.
Many people would prefer flip phones to be the norm.
Smart phones have made our lives both easier and more complex.
An 18-year-olds remaining time, in months.via TEDx
Dino Ambrosi speaks at a school assembly.via Dino Ambrosi (used with permission)
A teen boy looks at his phone in bed.via 
A couple glued to their phones.via 
A family glued to their phones.via 
Where Are You Im Waiting GIF
Location Gps GIF by AboutMedia Internetmarketing GmbH
Warning T-Rex GIF by Meta Digital
What's up with the new ‘invisible’ smartphone that’s everywhere on TikTok?
Did a time traveler just get caught?
A woman using her methaphone.
Popular tech influencer CatGpt uploaded a head-scratching video on TikTok May 14 that sparked a wave of curiosity. It featured a woman in line at a boba shop in San Francisco, seemingly engrossed in a smartphone that looked like it was made of clear glass. “Completely clear phone spotted in San Francisco on May 14…?!?” she captioned the video, which garnered nearly 55 million views.
This video received many confused responses, with some claiming the woman was a time traveler who had been caught in the act. Others thought it was a new smartphone that could be more trouble than it's worth. “Losing that would be a NIGHTMARE to find,” one commenter wrote. “I can’t even find my phone now. I’ll never find it when it’s translucent,” another added.
Some people thought it was the long-rumored Nokia Clear Phone that, sadly, isn’t a real thing. Jay got a little closer to what was really happening in the video: “This looks like a social commentary or a walking art exhibit I’m too uncultured to understand,” he wrote, before NIMM nailed it on the head: “Maybe it's like a stimulation thing. Like I need to scroll because I'm addicted but I'm trying to cut down on my scrolling?”
What is a methaphone?
In a follow-up video, AskCatGPT, explained that her video was a promotion for the methaphone, a clear acrylic block that feels just like a smartphone, but has zero functionality. It was developed by Eric Antonow, a friend of the influencer, who aimed to spark a conversation about smartphone addiction. The big question was: "If we're all so addicted to our phones, then could you potentially curb someone's addiction by replacing the feeling of having a phone in your pocket with something that feels exactly the same?"
CatGpt clearly knows why the video of the woman with an invisible phone struck a chord with so many people. “This little piece of acrylic feels like a physical artifact that directly responds to this collective tension we all feel about how our devices, which are meant to make us more connected, are actually having the exact opposite effect,” she explained.
She went on to say that after carrying the methaphone with her for a few weeks, it hasn’t curbed her smartphone use, but, much like her video, it has brought up an important conversation about smartphone addiction and the role that our phones play in our lives.
Are Americans worried about their smartphone use?
It makes sense that the majority of Americans are concerned about their smartphone use. A 2022 Gallup poll found that 58% of adults said they used their smartphone “too much,” a big jump from the 39% who said the same thing in 2015. This isn’t just a problem for younger people. Seventy-four percent of people ages 30 to 49 say they use their phone “too much,” just 7% less than those in the 18 to 29 age bracket.
Antonow was smart to give CatGpt a methaphone to share in her videos because his IndieGogo manufacturing campaign has earned him all the cash it needs to produce 80 of them. But given the popularity of the TikTok video, he should probably make a few more than he initially thought.