What happened when I decided to limit my time on Instagram to 40 minutes a day, and I stuck to it?
By: Bérengère Humbert
Tags: Addiction, Instagram, Life Hacking, Social Media, Self-awareness

I worked on social media for a diplomatic office for the past five years. As I decided to quit my job to pursue personal projects, I also took this as an opportunity to distance myself from social media effectively.

Indeed, after five years spent online analyzing people’s behaviors and developing strategies to get them more engaged with our content, I was not satisfied with what I was doing. I was not doing anything useful, mostly wasting a lot of time, mine and others. I was online every day but undeniably disconnected. I was advising people on how to get more likes, followers, and engagement when I was and still am convinced that it is not what genuinely matters in life.

My first step was to delete all the profiles I was not really using — the ones where I was just scrolling endlessly without having any real interaction with anyone or anything. I simply deactivated or deleted my accounts and removed the app from my phone.

I ended up keeping Instagram and LinkedIn. I still enjoy Instagram for now, and I use LinkedIn for professional purposes. While I am editing this article, I have to add that I have recently reactivated my Facebook profile for the sole purpose of having access to freelance work groups. However, these groups have not proved to be fruitful so far, so I am already considering deactivating my profile again. Indeed, I never go there to search for more freelance missions.

I have email notifications activated for LinkedIn, which helps me monitor my time on it. LinkedIn is still useful for networking and keeping abreast of what is happening right now in my field. I can share work achievements with my contacts, help them out when needed, and look for new opportunities.

Let’s dig a little bit more on Instagram now. As I said, I still enjoy the platform, and I am comfortable with sharing content on it. I appreciate most of what I see there: esthetic images, videos, and fun content.

Yet, I realized that I was spending around one hour and forty minutes on it, daily, if not more. So far, my maximum was three hours and forty-something minutes. Most of this time was spent looking at celebrities, memes, and random people’s content. I was not interacting with my friends and my people that much anymore.

Lately, I feel stuck in an echo chamber of content that Instagram thinks I enjoy. Every time I click on a specific post, I then get twice as many suggestions similar to it, if not the exact same post but on another account. It feels like I am always looking at the same stuff. The app does not show me new content, original stories, or things I would never think of on my own. It keeps me in a loop of things it knows I like and never truly opens my mind to radically different content that I could absolutely enjoy and discover new interests for myself.

I always had a timer set on my account to let me know when I spent 40 minutes on the app. And, of course, I always stay way more. So, I decided to give it a try. Would my life change if I respected my timer and left Instagram after 40 minutes every day, and how?

After two months of doing it, I already see a few changes:

I am not freaking out anymore on people’s lives and especially mine, compared to theirs. I am not blinded anymore by perfectly filtered photos and storytelling that, of course, show only the bright side of everyone’s lives.

I don’t end up staring at people or stuff that, if I am honest, I don’t, in fact, care about.

I don’t feel like I need to buy and consume more; I have fewer temptations and cravings. I have never been a spendthrift. Yet, if I spend hours a day on social media, I always feel like I want and need everything I look at. Every time I distance myself from social media, it goes away. Marketing at its finest!

I focus more on what matters because I know that my time is limited. I unfollowed many distractive accounts and spend less time on the “explore”’s section.

I leave people who belong to the past in the past. I don’t give precious time and attention to what doesn’t interest me in the real world.

I have more time to focus on what matters to me in the present moment. In my case: being my own boss. The math is simple; by spending 60 minutes less on Instagram every day for a month, I won back an average of 30 hours a month. It is almost a day that I don’t spend looking at a screen anymore. I can spend this daily hour saved to work or do something for myself such as meditating, working out, reading, meeting new people, cooking; I can even decide to dedicate it to learning a new hobby, a new language, etc.

I can spend this daily hour saved to work or do something for myself such as meditating, working out, reading, meeting new people, cooking; I can even decide to dedicate it to learning a new hobby, a new language, etc. I feel less screen tired. My eyes and brain thank me for being less solicited by this shiny screen. Every time I spend hours on social media, especially before going to bed, I will have a hard time falling asleep. I will wake up the next morning with a social media hangover. And it never feels good. By limiting my time on Instagram, the app remains entertaining without giving me anxiety.

What happens if, one day, I am looking at a story, an interview that really interests me, but I reach my timer limit? Again, there is no wrong in staying longer if I feel like it is time well spent. Like in anything, balance is everything.

I also don’t blame myself when I spend more than 40 minutes on Instagram when it is to create content, add value, discuss with friends, look for inspiration, or learn something. The only time I don’t value is the one spent endlessly scrolling in the abyss.

Do I think I can carry on like this forever? I have days when I feel really bored, and I know that I could just go online to distract my brain and have the impression of doing something — an easy fix to numb myself and feel busy.

Every time I felt that way so far, I refocused my attention on something else. More than often, I realized it was not about boredom at all. I was mostly procrastinating in stuff that did matter but, for some reason, gave me a bit of stress: doing bank paperwork, taxes, business development, and so on. Or I was tired, and taking a nap would be a better idea, or I needed fresh air; I went out, walked a bit, and felt revitalized.

As many scientist experiments have confirmed, it takes three months to create a new habit. So I would say that to begin with, my only goal at the moment is to reach those three months and go from there.

Again, social media apps can be convenient and useful tools. It lastingly changed the way we interact with each other. They help us connect, share, and interact. There is nothing wrong with spending time online if the end result is for us to feel better. But, if the time we spend online only makes us feel miserable, not enough, and unworthy, then it becomes a problem. It is an issue when it is just a perpetual, endless, and goalless wandering. When it becomes a way to avoid moving forward in our lives, our IRL lives. Sadly, social media apps have been built this way. They are designed to make us stay on it. There is no mystery here. Our time is valuable for social media companies as long as it is spent on their platforms. I am a firm believer that our time is our most valuable resource and should be spent wisely. There is also so much more to communication than simply talking or texting. There is so much in a message that is transmitted by the tone of voice, the gesture, the eyes, the touch that to only rely on written communication in a relationship is the best way to kill it slowly.

I won’t lie; I don’t have enough willpower at the moment to leave social media once and for all. I crave attention from time to time, and I appreciate distracting myself with something whose purpose is exclusively entertaining. I am not sure it would be even realistic to think we should and could go back to a world without social media. But knowing social media have been built to work on our brains just like drugs do, we should use them cautiously. Maybe, the platforms will evolve, and it won’t be such an issue anymore. But if we don’t use drugs because we know it will harm us and we can’t afford to lose control of ourselves and our lives, maybe we should approach social media the same way. A real-world is waiting for us away from our screens, and life will happen regardless of how many followers and likes we get daily.