On 22nd December 2025, I did something that felt both liberating and terrifying in equal measure: I deleted every single social media app from my phone.
No Instagram. No LinkedIn. No Facebook. Nothing.
And honestly? I wasn’t sure I’d make it past Boxing Day.
The Breaking Point
By mid-December, I was absolutely done. My phone had become an extension of my hand, and not in a good way. Every spare second, whether waiting for the kettle to boil, sitting in the car, or even mid-conversation, I’d find myself mindlessly scrolling through feeds that left me feeling worse, not better.
The endless noise, the comparison, the feeling that I was constantly “on” but never actually present in my own life, it was zapping my energy, killing my creativity, and leaving me feeling mentally drained at the end of each day. So when we headed off to the Lake District for Christmas, I made a decision – let’s do two whole weeks without social media. A proper digital detox.
What Actually Happened
We spent Christmas in the Lakes and Hogmanay in Scotland, and I can honestly say it was one of the most peaceful, beautiful times I’ve spent with my family in years. There was no checking notifications every five minutes, no crafting the perfect caption for a sunset photo, no wondering if I should be posting more, engaging more, doing MORE. Just… being present.
We played cards, went for walks, built Lego, read actual books (more on that in a minute), and watched films without my phone buzzing away beside me demanding attention.
We had conversations that didn’t get interrupted by “just quickly checking something” that inevitably turned into twenty minutes of scrolling. All those natural, dopamine-building activities we used to do before our phones became our biggest addiction were suddenly back in my life, and it felt wonderful.
By the time we got home on 3rd January, I felt rested in a way I hadn’t experienced in months. Not just surface-level “I’ve had a few days off” rest, but the kind that sinks right down into your bones and makes you feel like yourself again. And that’s when I realised something important: I wasn’t ready to come back online. So I didn’t.
The Week That Changed Everything
I extended my detox for another week, and then a bit longer. Three weeks in total without social media, and if I’m being completely honest, part of me still didn’t want to come back.
It made me question something fundamental: if it wasn’t for running a business, would I actually be on social media at all? I’m really not sure I would, and that realisation was both freeing and slightly unsettling.
During those three weeks, I picked up a book called ‘The Dose Effect’ and it absolutely resonated with everything I was experiencing. The premise is simple but profound: the dose makes the poison.
Things that are beneficial in small amounts can become toxic when we overdo them, and social media is a perfect example of this principle in action. It’s not inherently bad, but the way we’ve been conditioned to consume it, constantly, compulsively, without any real boundaries, that’s where the problem lies.
We’re dosing ourselves with constant connectivity, endless scrolling, and digital overwhelm, and then we’re wondering why we feel so bloody awful all the time. I’d also found myself becoming addicted to online shopping, spending money, buying stuff I didn’t really need!!
Reading about this concept while experiencing the benefits of stepping away from it was like having someone hold up a mirror to my behaviour, and I didn’t particularly like what I saw reflected back at me.
Coming Back (With Boundaries)
I’ll be honest, I felt genuinely worried about returning to social media. I’d felt so good without it, clear-headed and present in a way I hadn’t been for months, and I was terrified of my phone taking over again and dragging me back into that exhausted, overwhelmed state I’d been living in before Christmas.
But I run a business. My clients are on LinkedIn, and connection and visibility matter in what I do. I can’t just disappear forever, as appealing as that sometimes sounds. So instead of diving back in the way I’d left, overwhelmed, addicted, and absolutely exhausted, I’ve put some serious boundaries in place for 2026.
I’ve scheduled weekly sessions in my calendar specifically for content creation and scheduling posts, which means no more scrambling to post something “in the moment” or feeling guilty when I haven’t shared anything for a few days.
I’m allowing myself three scheduled check-in times throughout the day to respond to messages and engage with my network, and that’s it. No more constant monitoring or feeling like I need to be available every second of the day.
The biggest change, though, is that I’m no longer picking up my phone to scroll during the day. This was my biggest addiction last year and it was absolutely destroying my productivity, fragmenting my focus and making me feel like I was constantly busy but never actually achieving anything meaningful.
After 6pm, my phone goes upstairs for the night with no negotiations, and I’m not touching it in the morning until I’m properly up and about. Sunlight before social media, always. Weekends are completely social media-free, and I’m not budging on that one.
I tried implementing boundaries like this last year and failed spectacularly, but this time feels different. Now I’ve experienced three weeks of what life feels like without the constant digital noise, and I’m not prepared to go back to feeling the way I did before Christmas, because honestly? I felt like absolute shit, and I deserve better than that.
But What About Your Business?
This is where this all connects to what we do at Kellie Simpson Legal, and why I think this experience has made me even better at understanding what our clients need from us.
During those three weeks away, my business didn’t fall apart. My clients were still supported, their needs were still met, emails were still handled professionally and promptly, and essential tasks were still completed. Why? Because I have an incredible team of associates who kept everything running smoothly while I was completely off-grid, building Lego and walking around the beautiful Lakes without a care in the world.
And that’s exactly what we offer to the busy lawyers and legal professionals we work with: the freedom to actually switch off without their practice grinding to a halt.
Imagine closing your laptop and actually switching off – knowing your inbox is being monitored and responded to by someone you trust during business hours. It’s time to put down your phone in the evenings, safe in the knowledge that clients have been responded to, invoices have been uploaded, new team members are onboarded, and your work day hasn’t spilled over into your ‘you-time’.
Imagine if weekends were actually for rest and time with your family, not catching up on the admin that piled up during the week because you were too busy with fee-earning work. Imagine if you didn’t have to check your phone constantly throughout your time off because you knew, with absolute certainty, that someone else was handling the time-consuming but essential tasks that keep your practice running smoothly.
That’s not a pipe dream or some unrealistic fantasy. That’s what proper delegation looks like, and it’s what we help our clients achieve every single day.
The Question I Keep Asking Myself
If you didn’t need social media or constant email access to run your business, would you still use it the way you do now? For most of the lawyers and professionals I speak with, the honest answer is no. They’d love to switch off, to be present with their families, to actually rest and recharge during their time off instead of feeling guilty about the work that’s piling up or the emails they haven’t responded to yet.
But they feel like they can’t, because who else is going to handle the client queries, the admin, the follow-ups, the diary management, and all the other essential tasks that keep a legal practice running? The answer is simple: we are. That’s literally what we do, and we’re bloody good at it.
We take on the time-consuming tasks that keep you tethered to your phone and your inbox, freeing you up for fee-earning work during business hours and, perhaps more importantly, for actual life outside of them.
After spending 25 years working in the legal industry and 7 years running a virtual support business specifically for lawyers and law firms, I understand exactly what you need and how to provide it in a way that genuinely makes your life easier.
My Challenge to You
You don’t need to delete social media for three weeks (though I’d highly recommend it if you can), but I do challenge you to ask yourself this: what would it take for you to put your phone away at 6pm tonight and not pick it up again until tomorrow morning?
What tasks would need to be handled? What support would need to be in place? What would you need to delegate to make that possible? Because this is what I learned during my digital detox: the world doesn’t end when you step away. Your business doesn’t crumble, your clients don’t abandon you, and actually, you come back sharper, more creative, and far better equipped to serve them well.
And if you need a team to make that possible? Well, you know where to find us.
Ready to reclaim your evenings and weekends? Let’s chat about how we can support you to step away from the digital overwhelm and focus on what you do best.
