Imagine waking up tomorrow and discovering that Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, X and every other social media platform had disappeared.

Not for a few hours.

For an entire week.

At first, many people would panic.

What would we do with our free time? How would we know what was trending? How would businesses reach customers? How would influencers create content?

For the first two days, people would probably keep checking their phones out of habit.

Then something strange might happen.

We might start talking to people again.

You might call the friend you haven't spoken to in months. You might sit with your family without constantly checking your screen. You might finish the book you've been ignoring.

You might even realise that you don't actually miss everything you thought you couldn't live without.

Without social media, there would be no constant stream of other people's achievements.

No engagement announcements every morning.

No holiday pictures making you feel like you're not travelling enough.

No career updates making you question your own progress.

No endless comparison.

Of course, there would also be challenges. Businesses would struggle. Creators would lose income. News and information would travel differently.

But perhaps the biggest change would happen inside our minds.

For one week, we would have fewer opportunities to compare our ordinary lives with everyone else's highlights.

And maybe, when social media eventually returned, we would use it differently.

More intentionally.

Less compulsively.

Perhaps the real question isn't what would happen if social media disappeared.

It's what would happen if we learned to live as though we didn't need it every minute.