It has officially been an entire year since I logged onto Instagram (cue the cheering!) and my life is much better without it. Have there been times when I wish I could check up on a specific person and see more than the “free” six posts that you get without an account? Sure. But overall, I don’t regret it at all.
I think a lot of us don’t realize until we cut a social media outlet from our lives just how big an effect it can have on our emotions, desires, and time spent scrolling. For some reason, Facebook is manageable to me. I can log in once or twice a day to check the two groups I use regularly, log out and not think about it anymore. Instagram was straight-up addictive to me though.
Why Deleting Instagram Was Good For Me
I didn’t realize how much more I wanted to shop after seeing sponsored posts or ads on IG. I didn’t realize how badly I often felt about myself and my own life after spending time scrolling. And I definitely was aware of, but felt not in control of, how my views on a variety of topics (politics and medicine mainly) had changed in response to the content I was consuming. Mostly via the Explore tab but even some of the people I followed.
I tend not to be someone who gets angry about what I see online, but it made me insanely angry how over-exposed kids are on that app. There were a couple of “family” accounts I knew were exploiting their kids. But for some reason I just couldn’t look away from them, either. It’s one thing to post a cute photo of your child on vacation, and another entirely to share every detail of their lives online. From where they go to school, to what their favorite foods are, to struggles like a stomach virus or ER visit, I strongly feel that kids by default deserve the same level of privacy we adults can choose for ourselves.
Nothing good came from me being on Instagram in recent years. I enjoyed the app when I first created an account in 2012. But once everyday phone snapshots were replaced with professionally-captured sponsored content and the algorithm was no longer chronological, it felt like one gigantic advertisement with no personal touch at all anymore. Maybe that’s what it was always designed to become. Or maybe it was just the inevitable evolution of the app in our hyper-consumerist society, where everything eventually becomes monetized.
It was fun to “play the game” during the heyday of blogging in the 2010s. However, over time it felt like the boundaries between what we should share and what earns the most money broke down. It was oversaturated, people’s lives were overexposed, and I was just over it. So deleting Instagram was kind of the natural next step for me.
What’s Next?
For a year, I had only social media account–Facebook, because I am a big contributor to (and beneficiary of) my local Buy Nothing group. I also like our local moms group for school news, service recommendations and occasionally for the drama. I’m there with my popcorn, not an active participant 😛
Recently I created a Pixelfed account to share snippets of daily life. You know, the sort of thing I’d share on Instagram a dozen or so years ago. I hope to have more time to practice photography this year for the heck of it, so those pictures might make an appearance on my account at some point. I’m @claireify if you’re on there, too! I’m on the .social server.
At the moment, Pixelfed feels like what Instagram used to be. A simple chronological timeline with no advertisements, and a teeny tiny group of people using it. Small enough to find new accounts from the world over and get a glimpse into the daily life of people who don’t live like you. That is what drew me to blogging in the first place. That’s why I’m still here–and I’m hoping blogging will come back into vogue someday. I have to believe there are people out there like me who want that small-world Internet vibe back, too 🙂
xx Claire
