How & Why I’m Tapering Off Instagram
By: Bridgett Colling
Tags: Instagram, Personal Development, Self Improvement, Technology, Social Media

4. Re-download and re-delete as needed.

So far I’ve been re-downloading the app on the weekends, but I don’t feel quite as called to use it since I’ve been breaking myself out of the reflexive habit of daily use. But it’s nice to be able to publish multiple photos to your story and multiple photo posts on occasion (something you can’t do in a browser).

And that’s it! I feel like I already have a much healthier relationship with Instagram and like it does not have so much control over me. And I am a becoming a *~*sUdOkU qUeEn!*~*

The CONS of Limiting My Time on Insta

I’ve been intentionally limiting my time on Instagram since June. So for the past two months or so, here are some of the things that have been kind of a bummer.

1. Becoming the kind of jerk who brags about spending less time on social media

I remember when other friends made big declarations in the past about abandoning a particular social network, it always made me feel sort of dissed. So you don’t care about me enough to want to know what I’m up to Internet? Fine. I would think. You think you’re better than me because you don’t feel called stare into your crotch for 45 minutes straight looking at vacation pics of people you don’t know? I judged harshly.

Now that I am the exact person I felt dissed by, I would say that the inflated sense of moral superiority is definitely a perk of spending less time on social media. But I’m also disappointed in myself that I can’t use Instagram in a way that feels purely healthy without putting up such strict boundaries around it.

2. Losing a bit of relationship connective tissue

Instagram is a way I’ve stayed casually connected to my many dear pals who don’t live in my city. Sure, I still text those people, but there is something that feels organic and easy about a quick emoji sent in response to a Story leading to a short convo that fills you with warm fuzzies.

I also feel the loss of those peripheral relationships with people who are more your Instagram friend than they ever were in real life. You have those people in your feed, don’t you? Despite not seeing each other in many years or only knowing one another a bit in college, you’ve somehow developed a delightful internet relationship that mostly consists of hyping one another up and sharing the occasional meme. These relationships are not meals — fully satisfying and wholesome — but they are the snacks of life. And man, do I love snacks. They’re fun and entertaining and a nice little pick-me-up just when you need it.

These things seem trivial but I think they’re actually really important. This casual connective tissue has helped me maintain a network that has led to professional introductions and resume editing clients and joyful relationships with people who I only know in that obscure, internet-friend way. I think this is probably the greatest potential loss of being on Instagram much less.

3. Diminished creative juices

At the risk of sounding completely unbearable, Instagram has been a creative home for me. It’s been a vehicle I’ve used to share my dance vids, which bring me so much joy. It’s where I share my writing. I think there’s something about the easy artistry of creating stories or writing captions that triggers the creative part of my brain and makes me want to do more and more creative things. For now, this feels not-so-great. But perhaps I’m just saving up the creative juices and I’ll use them on something that’s truly a masterpiece, and not just me reposting an astrology meme with a Jonathan Van Ness GIF over it. Only time will tell.

4. Less self-documentation

I’ve also felt less called to document my life on a day-to-day basis. And that’s probably a good thing? I’m taking fewer selfies and cat pics and plant pics and dance vids. But I wonder if I’ll miss these things looking back. I don’t usually spend much time reminiscing and staring into my Photo Roll, but I do love an occasional scroll through my own Profile or Archive, reflecting on Young Bridgett and the Bridgett I’ve Become.

The PROS of Limiting My Time on Insta

Despite the cons I mentioned above, I keep deleting the app from my phone. Because at this point, even with all the stuff I miss, it feels a little better, a little safer, to not have it so easily accessible to me. And there are three big reasons why:

1. Greater self-control.

I like that I don’t get sucked into my phone like I used to. Instagram is really the only thing that I abuse on my phone. And I’ve gotten really, really good at Sudoku.