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Itās a complicated relationship.
The highs feel great: funny memes, sharing with friends, inspiration, connection to the outside world.
The lows, well, feel pretty darn low. Politics, shaming, comparison, flexing, disconnection, feelings of inadequacy. Need I say more?
You might feel differently, but I havenāt been able to find the value in social media. And as an Ambassador of Intentional Living (my new self-appointed title), I have a hard time holding onto things that donāt add value to my life. So, Instagram just had to go.
Why I Quit
Hereās a deep dive look into why I decided it was time to quit Instagram. Maybe some of my concerns will resonate with you.
My attention span sucks. There is so much happening on there. Reels, stories, chats, still photos, live videos, notifications and a screen thatās constantly moving or making noise. I have a hard time focusing when Iām being pulled in so many directions at once. And sadly, my brain is starting to become accustomed to it. I have a hard time sitting with myself without needing to be distracted. If a video is too long or an article too big, I quickly give up and want to move onto something else. I donāt like it. I want to go slowly, and just sit and focus on one thing at a time.
It feels like a firehose of information. Despite evolutionary development, I believe our brains arenāt equipped to handle the flood of information thrown at us constantly. Yes, we can take it in, but is it healthy? We are overstretched and burnt out from processor overload. And quite frankly, I donāt care about it all. My brain shouldnāt have to process what hundreds and thousands of internet strangers are doing in real-time. Itās just too much.
Constant bombardment with ads. Iām sorry, but it feels totally invasive to have an ad pop up in my feed for a product I was just talking about with a friend or searching for on my network. Just admit it, youāve been tempted to buy at least one thing youāve seen through Instagram. I have! And itās likely something I didnāt need in the first place. Enough with the billboards.
That āIs this shareable content?ā feeling. When my child or dog does something cute, or I made an Instagram-worthy mealā¦subconsciously my brain asks: āShould I post this?ā And realistically what happens is that Iām missing the moment as itās happening right in front of me. Itās almost second nature to reach for our phones when something extraordinary is happening. Hereās the thing, that sunset will never look as good through a lense, and those videos of fireworks or that concert will never be rewatched. Just live and enjoy the moment.
Which leads me to my next pointā¦
Who is seeing my stuff? Who do you allow to have a front seat view of your daily life? Imagine standing up in front of a room full of all of your Instagram followers. Would you share the same content? Maybe youāve curated your account to be private and only include family and friends you are truly close with. I think more often than not weāre sharing with a much larger crowd. āWelcome everyone, Iām here to show you this salad I madeā. Itās kind of laughable!
Opportunity cost. I think of all the things I could be doing with my time instead of mindlessly scrolling. Reading books, writing, meditating, doing something productive, spending time with people right in front of meā¦or just being present in the moment, even if that means doing nothing. Itās not worth the tradeoff. Thereās only so much time in the day.
Itās a time waster. You know itās never just a quick check of your feed. You get sucked in and before you know it, an hour has passed. Itās especially hard if you scroll right before bed. Your brain is overstimulated, and you just want to watch one more reel or check this one account. Itās a never-ending rabbit hole.
My happiness chemicals are out of whack. Iām so conditioned by the dopamine response of a red heart notification that real-life situations have a hard time competing with it. I know, it sounds pathetic. I can only imagine this is how drugs feel when you become desensitized to the high and you just crave more. Instagram is a drug. Just try and quit cold turkey and tell me you donāt have withdrawal symptoms.
FOMO. Gosh, your vacation looks so fun. I wish I was on vacation (*cue feelings of jealousy*). Those perfectly posed family photos on the beach make me wish I was on vacation too. Nobody is posting about the tantrums their children threw on the plane or the crabby attitudes. Those things happen too, but weāre only seeing the good stuff - the highlight reel. It makes us feel like weāre missing out instead of enjoying what we have right in front of us.
It makes you feel like you need to be someone youāre not. If only my pantry was that organized, or If only I could hold that challenging yoga pose. #goals Weāre seeing how everyone else does things āperfectlyā and we have feelings of inadequacy. Iām not good enough because my house looks a certain way, or my clothes are boring, or my stomach isnāt flat. Let all that āishā go, and just be the best version of yourself.
The Joneses (insert eye roll). Can we be done with the one-upping already? Thereās always going to be someone who has more than you or is better than you in some way. Social media constantly throws this in your face, whether subliminally or not. The grass is greener where you water it, and being off of Instagram gives me better clarity and focus on my own life.
You are what you consume. Our habits become part of our nature. When youāre accustomed to checking Instagram every free chance you get, youāre training your brain to internalize what you see. Think of it as a diet for your mind. If youāre filling your mind with intellectual and thought-provoking information to learn and grow, youāre eating a healthy diet. But if youāre constantly consuming mindless memes, political polarization, and being a voyeur of other peopleās lives, itās like eating junk food. You deserve better.
Instagram deleted my account without warning. I lost all of my meaningful connections, resources, and creative content. When reels started taking over the algorithm, I lost interest in trying to keep up with a superficial fast-paced form of content delivery. So, I decided to deactivate my account for a bit to take a step back and reassess. After 90 days of inactivity, Instagram deleted my account without warning. When I tried to log back in and it was gone, I was bummed. It makes me think of how little Instagram cares about its users.
Letās talk about censorship on Instagram. The āfact checkersā will remove your posts and sometimes full accounts. Iāve seen it happen, and itās scary. Who is doing the fact checking, or should I say censoring? And who has the authority to remove content in a āfree speechā world? Think about it.
I miss the old Instagram. Remember when Instagram was just a bunch of pretty still photos with a finite set of enhancement filters? There was no algorithm, just chronologically posted photos. I really enjoyed that. Now, thereās too much happening on there and it feels like a knock off version of TikTok. *sad face*
The Bottom Line
In our so called āattention economyā weāre constantly being bombarded with messages vying for our attention. As Instagram users, we are the product and advertisers are competing for our attention. The platform is designed to keep us coming back for more with its built-in reward systems. Instagram may be āfreeā to the user, but I believe it costs us so much - our time, attention, money, and our wellbeing. Check out these eye-opening stats and think about how they make you feel.
Right now, Instagram just doesnāt add value to my life, and because of that, I had to let it go. This is not a declaration that I am banning it forever. Itās a wellness-check, and the cons heavily outweigh the pros for me. #I'mOut
Ask yourself if itās time to do a deep dive look into your social media use. Is Instagram serving you well?
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My Favorites This Week
I picked up this book and canāt put it down! Itās a thriller so buckle up. It almost feels like playing a game of Clue.
We have multiple fiddle leaf fig plants in our home, and itās that time of year when we like to give them a little haircut. When we do, I like to try propagating them. This propagation resource has been so helpful. If youāre interested in finding a fiddle leaf fig for your home, I recommend Bloomscape.
There are so many things you can do instead of scrolling Instagramā¦at least 99 things.
As someone whoās experienced trauma, this interview with Cyndie Spiegel resonated with me. You can find her book Microjoys here.
I love my perpetual calendar from Life On Purpose Movement. Itās great because you can use it year after year. This message from March 12th is golden:
Love how deeply you've thought about your decision! I'd love to hear how it goes for you :)
I really resonated with point 12 and where you mention the costs at the end!
I resonate with this I immensely. I deleted Facebook and honestly it was an easy ālet goā. Instagram has been a bit hard because of what I think is feeling like I *should* stay connected to it for really no logical reason. I find myself flustered at the content that shows up on up on my feed that I did not go out looking for. Weirdly, itās content that makes me get those feelings of insecurity and Iām like WTF, how do these things keep showing up here? I clearly do not understand how algorithms or any of the click baiting works š«£š¬
Reading this is further confirmation that the app is not needed and what I am really missing is human connection and social media has allowed us to believe this is a pathway to it....yikes! It is not, we are even more disconnected than ever! Great read, my friend! š