Thirty Days Off Social: Lacey Sheardown’s Social Media Detox Story

As someone with a strong interest in compliance, I spend a lot of time thinking about rules, systems, and the choices people make when no one is watching. That is why I was so interested in having a conversation that was not directly about business regulations, but about something many of us quietly struggle with: our relationship with social media. On a recent episode of the True North Compliance Podcast, I sat down with Lacey Sheardown, General Manager of MeetEdgar, to talk about her decision to take a 30 day break from social media.

Lacey has been in marketing for about 20 years and works at the heart of the social media world. As the GM of MeetEdgar, a leading social media scheduling platform, she helps creators and businesses automate their content and stay visible online. Yet even with all of that professional experience, she found herself slipping into what she called “doom scrolling”—hours a day on apps like TikTok, Instagram, and LinkedIn, often in tiny moments that added up: waiting for coffee, standing by the toaster, or lying in bed at night.

The turning point came when she checked her iPhone Screen Time and saw she was spending up to five hours a day just on social media apps. At the same time, she was trying to keep her teenagers off their phones. That mismatch pushed her to act. In August, she deleted all social media apps from her phone and committed to a month long detox. She still had to do her job, so she used MeetEdgar and her desktop computer to schedule and manage content, but the apps themselves were gone from her pocket.

What happened next is where the story gets really interesting. Almost overnight, Lacey’s routines began to shift. Instead of reaching for her phone first thing in the morning, she used an old-fashioned alarm clock and drove her daughter to the gym at 5:30 a.m., joining her for workouts. She noticed she was sleeping better, felt calmer, and had more patience with her five-year-old. She also began to see how often she had been choosing a screen over real connection.

There was a withdrawal period too. Around the two week mark, Lacey admitted she felt a strong sense of missing out and even tried to fill the gap with online shopping. But by recognizing that as just another form of mindless scrolling, she was able to stop and choose healthier replacements: walks with the dog, Lego projects with her daughter, and more face to face conversations.

For me, this conversation sits right at the heart of voluntary compliance. No one forced Lacey to do this. She chose to set a boundary, design a small system for herself, and stick to it. Her story is a powerful reminder that one of the most meaningful “compliance programs” we can run is the one that governs our own habits.

If you are curious about your own social media use, or you want to hear more about how Lacey balanced her personal detox with leading a social media business, I invite you to listen to this episode of the True North Compliance Podcast. You can find it on most podcast apps.