In high school, I took a leap of faith and deleted my instagram account in hopes that I would be able to focus on my grades and get into the college of my choice, or so I told my parents. But the real reason was that I really just couldn’t handle the FOMO and the constant comparison I put myself through. I couldn’t handle having such an intimate yet illusioned view into the lives of my classmates.
Before my grand deletion, I often found myself scrolling through my peers’ instagram accounts, looking at them out with their friends, their clothes, their clothes I didn’t have, the vacations that they went on. But here’s the thing: I also curated my life. I posted pictures of my fun vacations abroad and my cute family. I also created an image of myself that wasn’t the whole picture. And I enjoyed getting more likes on my pictures. I would count the likes and the comments as if it said something directly about me. I prided myself on the amount of followers I had. And I hated that I was liking this attention, so I removed it.
When college rolled around, my graduation present to myself was an instagram and snapchat. I had a lot of pop culture references to catch up on. Initially it was fun. I remember rewatching a video of an orange being peeled to a funny song over and over again. But soon, enjoying these videos came to my detriment.
So, marking year three of my college career, I have once again taken the leap of faith and deleted my instagram. Not the account, but the app, permanently from my phone.
But I’ve read the articles and I won’t tell you what you should, or shouldn’t do.
Instead, I have curated a list of things to consider when looking at your social media usage:
How much have you spent on the app, really? Before you even look at the portion of your phone that tells you about your screentime, think of a good number. Think of a number you wouldn’t freak out over, and that makes sense in your life. Is it 3 hours of scrolling? The point of this article isn’t to shame you for your habits and your instagram usage, it is to identify what works best for your life and if your habits are helping you live the type of life you want. So, take a deep breath, imagine a number you would be happy with. Now, brainstorm.
If the number is higher, and higher by what amount, do you have a plan? How will you reduce your screen time?
What is a range that you would be happy with?
If it is lower, will you now feel guilt free increasing it? These are all things to consider.
Now, go check the screen time. How close is it?
If it is higher, here are some of my tips for reducing my own screen time. Instead of focusing on how to reduce the amount of it in your life, consider what you might replace it with or add to your life? Short term, my freshman year, everytime I had the urge to go check social media, I’d read a book. I made it really easy by pre-downloading a book onto my phone and reading it. Is there a hobby you’ve been interested in? The trick is to make the switchover as easy as possible. Additionally, I deleted it off of my phone. The first few times I did this, I would redownload within moments, but over time, I would forget about it. A tip my friend shared was only using it on your computer. Sure, you are still consuming the media, but you are making it more difficult and creating resistance. I found that the more time I spent off of instagram, the less time i spent comparing my personal life to those that only really showed a glimpse. Being able to see the way it changed my relationships and how I felt about myself really helped me to stop.