A Week Without Insta

Photo by @munzerin

Social media is a wonderful thing. I've had so many opportunities come from it, and met and stayed in touch with so many amazing people through it. However, it has an ugly side as well, as I find it causes a lot of feelings of FOMO and insecurity rooted in comparison. Not only that, but it is so addicting. I often find myself mindlessly scrolling, for so long that I'm not even taking in what I'm looking at, but I still keep flipping through stories for ages. To be honest while writing this I got distracted and started scrolling lol WHY AM I LIKE THISSSS

I took a week off of Instagram to see if it would have a positive effect on my happiness and productivity. Here's what I learned:

1. I felt much happier and was able to live in the moment more, and replaced checking my phone with talking to other people. Granted it's hard because even if you're not going on your phone, other people still are :')

2. How to get rid of FOMO feelings: Think about it - when you are posting something on your Instagram or Story, you are doing it to make other people think you are having a great time. You might actually be having a great time, but chances are it wasn't as fun as you are making it look on Instagram. Posting about it to make it look fun is a form of cognitive dissonance - you're trying to make up for the fact that you are not actually having that great of a time. Think about this when you watch other people's stories that look super fun. The fact that they are posting about it inherently means it couldn't actually be that fun, because instead of enjoying the moment they are on their phone. This thought process is how I cope with FOMO!

3. Tips for not scrolling: For my week without the gram I fully deleted the app from my phone. When I wanted to post something I would re-download it, post, and then delete the app again. I only did this at night when I was home and had some downtime so that it wouldn't take away from my day. I use Instagram as a business tool - not only am I building my own personal brand but I find out about a lot of castings, opportunities, classes, and events from it. So it's hard to strike that balance between getting value from it and mindlessly scrolling. What I like to do is log out of my account during the day and only log back in when I want to post or message someone, or even check notifications and scroll a bit to see what's up, but with a mindfulness so that I stop after a few clicks. 

4. For me Instagram is my blackhole, but for you it might be a different platform. I've actually deleted Snapchat off my phone because I don't use it at all so I don't even want to bother with the notifications. On my laptop I have a Google Chrome Extension called "Kill Newsfeed" which disables my Facebook Newsfeed so I cannot scroll on desktop. I have the app on my phone so I can scroll if I want to, but I find Facebook pretty boring so it's generally not as addicting for me as IG. 

5. Replace it - whenever I have the urge to scroll some IG for entertainment (ie. when on the subway), I've trained myself to open my Kindle, Spotify or Podcast app instead. I love reading and I love podcasts, so this is a more healthy and productive use of my time, and it's just as easy as opening up Instagram. 

If you've been feeling down or lonely or fomo-ish lately, I highly recommend doing a bit of a digital detox. It doesn't have to be drastic, just try to limit your scrolling. I found it made me feel much happier! :)