What happened when I switched off Instagram
For a while now, I have had fizzy eyes and a brain that has felt mainlined into a million cans of Red Bull. I noticed that I was losing time too. Suddenly, I would look up from my phone, and minutes and even hours have flown by. The culprit was, of course, social media.
When I lived in Beijing, I did not have easy access to social media, the Great Firewall preventing me from seeing a lot of what Facebook was offering. When I realised it did not bring anything to my life, that important friends and colleagues stayed in touch irrespective of social media, I made the decision to delete Facebook. I have never needed it again. The waves of new apps that followed in recent years, such as TikTok and Snapchat, passed me by. My only passion was Instagram, curating and editing photographs of my travels and adventures. When it was bought and sold to Facebook, becoming a video farm and hypnotic reel wheel, I stopped posting as much and let the algorithm fill my brain with dopamine in a different way.
I needed to break the habit of continually watching my phone when cooking, walking the dog, or sitting on the bus. I realised that it was light entertainment, nothing more, especially when I was being shown media that I had not subscribed to. Recommended and suggested content based on other things I had previously liked. My 'like' had a lot more power than I had realised, but it was actually giving my power away. Occasionally, I would see news, trailers for films, and even announcements of new music, things that I would genuinely be interested in. It was not enough of the right content, though.
It takes a lot of willpower to abandon something that feeds you so well. I've given up drinking alcohol before and cut out certain foods, so I knew I had willpower. At the start of the most recent half-term, I decided to give myself a break. I was able to weigh up the pros and cons of having Instagram in my life. I deleted the app. I had tried to hide the app in a folder and previously set up screen time limits before.
What happened was probably very predictable. I was more present on holiday, seeing and reading more. Taking photos still and sharing with family. I had a book in my bag, and every time I had the itch to scroll, I was already reaching for my book instead. When I did pick up my phone out of the tech habit, I was still automatically going for the place that I kept Instagram, like when you swap the wrist you keep your watch on. In its place, I found other apps to go into, such as the news, magazines, and even here on LinkedIn. But something else started to happen. I began to write more and share my thoughts in another creative outlet; I was filling my time with podcasts too. Consuming content I actually wanted. The part of me that missed Instagram was the part that shared photos and made videos; feeling a return to the creative part was encouraging but not enough to warrant downloading it again.
The biggest gain was just feeling like I didn't need my phone around me all the time. Having checked my screen time, I had been logging hours per day on Instagram and was receiving hundreds of notifications and announcements a day. These suddenly disappeared, and I was picking up my phone much less. My brain started feeling less locked in and distracted, and my phone usage felt more productive and meaningful. It is incredibly common for studios to create television shows called 'ambient TV' or 'low cognitive load entertainment' because they know most of us are on a second device while watching. I've managed to replace consuming content with creating it. I am currently typing this while some of that ambient TV is playing.
One thing I also noticed was the way others were using phones. Especially teenagers and quite young children. There are many battles we have faced amongst young children: getting boys to read, obesity levels in children, and now screen time. It is the most commented element of our digital curriculum, parents wanting to know about screen time and how much exposure children get. Again, we know that there is active and passive screen time. Mindless consuming games or YouTube videos might not reveal as many educational rewards, say completing a phonics challenge or photographing and labelling insects they see on a school trip.
Now is the time to be moderating access to social media for ourselves and our children. We should not forget that the average age to be on social media is thirteen. I am grateful that I did not grow up in a world where I was influenced by trends and memes. That my social standing amongst friends was not directly linked to what I was posting and where it was taken. It is important that we foster a positive approach to technology while maintaining an emphasis on health and well-being. We preach as parents and teachers: everything in moderation. I hope this article brings you permission to delete your social media and take a break.
