Instagram is an app that I would say I spend most of my screen time on. According to the screen time in my settings, I spend between 35 minutes to an hour a day on the app, which is a statistic that I am not too proud of. However, with the brief shutdown that occurred on October 4, I felt like it would be the best time to reevaluate my usage of social media and challenge myself to take the deep dive into bringing my account back to a casual and comfortable space, which I encourage you to do too.
I started by taking anything out of your profile that you would not like a random stranger to come up and ask you about. While looking through the followers that I have and even just what is displayed before I accept a request on my private account, I came to realize that the amount of unnecessary information that I had about myself over the course of the past five or so years was incredible! Not only did deleting the random story highlights that I had not touched for years at a time give me a bit of peace of mind, but it also helped me feel like my account was less cluttered in terms of aesthetics (always a bonus).
Next is what I considered to be my big moment—I unfollowed the majority of those in my following list. While it may take a good amount of time depending on how many people you follow, the amount of relief that I managed to have once I brought my Instagram feed back to those who I am closest to in my everyday life was so refreshing. For quite some time I have felt that I have missed seeing some of the core moments that my friends or loved ones have shared to social media, yet now I know that it will only take me a quick peek through to see what wonderful things are happening within others’ lives that they choose to share.
Overall, I think that the result of minimizing my Instagram and clearing my account into a smaller space is that I now feel that I can create meaningful content in the most authentic way possible. It’s extremely easy these days to compare your platforms to those around you, but it is far more important to have a fun time within your life than worry about how it will look for everyone else to see. Whether you prefer to go all out on your posts and make them super festive, or you would rather lay low and post once or twice a year, it all boils down to how you can make your socials feel like a fun way to express yourself, rather than a burden. For me, cutting back on what I have available to show now is what brings me excitement for my digital journey ahead. Now, I have a clean slate to start from the bottom with.