Surprise, surprise! As an enthusiastic over-sharer, this was actually a tough decision to make. I love to take a bunch of photos and videos and post them on my Instagram. I like it when I have at least one Instagram story to put up on there. It's satisfaction in a click. I know I'm not the only person who feels this way.
So, the moment I decided to take a break from Instagram, my brain is going crazy. I quickly realized how often I glance down just to see if I have a notification, or even if I don't have one, I just want to scroll my Instagram feed okay. When I wake up in the morning, on the way to work, (sometimes, at work, sorry) before I go to bed - it's constant.
I'm hoping with me going Instagram-less, my mind is going to be less scattered and all over the place. I also hope to become more productive, focused from day to day and less checking on my phone just to see if someone followed me on Instagram.
I quit Instagram and here's how it went:
The first week was... So. Freaking. Hard. I have a long day at work and usually, during my lunch hour, that's when I tried to catch up on things - by all means, watching everybody's IG stories. It's addictive. Anyway, ever since going Instagram free, I had nothing to distract myself from. It's not that I don't have other social media apps that could feed my habit - I just love Instagram more. Unconsciously, even I don't feel like posting, I have this urge to open the app.
Within the second week, I was getting kinda cured of my addictive thumb swiping and checking my phone. I actually felt pretty good doing things without having to document them. I also didn't really miss seeing other people's posts. I mean, yeah, I was curious to know what my friends and favourite celebs were up to and I was a little scared at first to take a break from Instagram, I thought I would miss out on a ton of things. It actually turned out to be A-okay. I spent more time connecting in real life and it was awesome!
Long story short...
During my little break up with Instagram, I realized I wake up feeling way more rested. I spent most of my 9 hours at work staring at a screen and cutting down on screen time outside of my job has changed my world. I was able to square away some of the important events in my life. I even tried to drive again (and I am scared, still). I was able to reorganize my bedroom. My business email was cleaned up (finally) and more importantly, I was able to stop allowing Instagram to feed into my anxiety.
I noticed I am far more productive when I'm not reaching for my phone every 2 minutes. I started to feel like there were extra hours in the day like I was given this gift of exercise time and reading time. After all, was said and done, I reaffirmed I am still on Instagram hiatus. I do feel so much better without it. And I am still happily off Instagram to this day.
For now, not planning to come back on IG anytime soon, still going IG-less until further notice.
Update 03/07/2020: on February 24th, I decided to make a comeback on IG — oh boy, my DM was bombarded with messages from a bunch of people. It's good to be back but nothing special. Same old, same old. I am still an enthusiastic over-sharer and I post a hefty amount of IG stories in a day.
Have you ever needed a digital detox?