(ABC4) An authorized retailer for AT&T is promoting a challenge where one lucky individual will have the chance to win a cash prize for eliminating their use of social media for one month. All Home Connections is the business promoting the challenge.
The All Home Connections Social Media Detox Challenge is aimed at encouraging “healthy use of social media,” according to the challenge website. Interested individuals will apply to be chosen for the challenge.
Once a person applies for the challenge, All Homes Connection will notify the chosen individual the week of November 1 of their selection to participate in the social media “detox” challenge.
The chosen applicant will receive $2,500 cash prize for pausing their social media use for 25 days. The winner of the prize will also be asked to set goals for their detox as part of the challenge.
The challenge does not prohibit the use of other apps like games or news apps.
There are five components of the challenge. The first one is to track individual mood while using social media as normal in the beginning for five days. The next component will be to delete all social media apps from the phone or tablet for 25 days.
After all social apps are deleted, a person is to set goals and work on achieving them in place of using social media. A care package of sorts will be provided with items to help pass the time like while working on the aforementioned goals.
These items include an insta-print camera (think of a Polaroid camera), a planner, books, board games, baking supplies, a language learning app, an adventure challenge scratch-off book, and a mood tracker app.
During the course of the challenge, a person is to track their mood and see how they are doing and feeling on the mood tracker app and on a task sheet they provide.
At the end of the 25 days, a person is to document in a video or write-up and share how the social media “detox” affected them.
According to a study by a Pew Research Center published in April, despite negative public sentiments toward certain aspects of social media, seven out of ten Americans use a social media app.
YouTube is the most popular site with 81% of Americans using it. Facebook is the second most popular at 61%.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security provides some additional tips for staying off social media. They include talking about the break with friends and family as well as the importance of taking a break.
They also recommend ways of “filling the void” left behind by not using social media, something the challenge addresses. Reading a book, going for a walk, or working on a skill are some of the ways to occupy time that normally would be spent arguing or checking up on people on social media.
All Homes Connections is sponsoring the challenge independently. It is not associated with any other offer, social media, or technology company for the challenge.
For more detailed information on the challenge and to apply for it, go to the official website here.
