RIP Doom Scroll
A month after taking Instagram off my phone
I took Instagram off my phone December 7th, 2022. I waited for the Georgia run-off election results, sighed some relief, then clicked uninstall in the Instagram info page. That was it. It was off. It only took 30 minutes for me to grab my phone to scroll, only to see Instagram and TikTok were no longer there. So I put the phone back and picked up Two Nights In Lisbon and read for my entire lunch break. Now, over a month later, I think I have begun to kick the habit.
Do I miss it? Of course! I miss all those recipes living in my saved folder, artist CJ Hendry’s new exhibition, and the updates from people I love. What I don’t miss are the ads, suggested posts, and of course, Reels. An app where I could see who was in Tulum or who was making tasty food has turned into a hell scape slowly tricking me into thinking this one candle would complete me. (Spoiler alert: it didn’t, and I was advertised the same candle 5 days later). I honestly miss TikTok more since there were less ads and more creative content, but the time suck that occurred was too much.
As I mentioned in my last update, I woke up at 5:30am with no alarm and was excited to work through my morning routine. Instead of stretching, meditating, and reading 20 pages, I made coffee and scrolled. Instagram was lagging, so I sat there and waited for things to load so I could scroll more. None of the photos were people I knew and all contained products I didn’t need. Next thing I knew, it was almost 8am and the stress began to build.
I waited until after the Run-Off (12/6) to remove the app so I could share voting information on my large meme account. Instagram is able to be used on the computer to message and post 1 image at a time, but you can’t post stories. Watching Stories sucked the most time, so it’s great to have those roadblocks.
So what have I been doing? Well, not as much as I hoped. I have read 4 books (here’s my Goodreads), started a Codecademy course, tried to use idle time to Peloton, and feel very present with my friends and family. I have been going to bed on time, having a decent routine involving reading and tea, and waking up closer to my 6am goal. It’s a great feeling to just put my phone away when getting dinner with a friend or spending the holidays with family. The most important improvement is the drop in impulse spending. Instagram knows what I like and, I hate to say it, most of my targeted ad purchases have been things I enjoyed, but did I really need them?
Sadly, I noticed a lot of us have defaulted to messaging over Instagram. Since I only log onto my account via the computer once every few days, I will get some messages days later. That small negative doesn’t outweigh the positives. Now, I feel I must be intentional with my communication instead of replying to a quick glimpse of someones life. Partly because I hope to deepen relationships with those that reach out.
Will I put IG back on my phone? Probably not. It’s very tempting but I feel more at ease and enjoy living in the moment.