Finding fashion inspo, connecting with friends, and keeping up with pop culture… Instagram can be amazing for many reasons. It’s good to keep in mind that sometimes we get too caught up in the idea of “living our best life” for the gram, and it can become toxic instead of fun. Here are three reasons you may want to consider taking a break from the app:
1. You feel like your life is boring.
We’re sure you’ve heard this time and time again, but most people aren’t posting the low moments of their lives on social media. When you’re not feeling too hot about life, scrolling through photos of your friends having the time of their lives probably won’t lift your mood. Self-consciousness over follower counts and number of likes just adds fuel to the fire. If you feel drained when you finish scrolling for the day, it may be time to give it a rest.
2. It’s hard to focus on work.
The average person spends about 2 hours on social media per day, including around 32 minutes on Instagram alone. Doesn’t seem like a huge chunk of time, but let’s be real, a lot of the time we start scrolling when we should be doing something else (like studying). Staying up at night to catch up on the latest posts also eats into your sleep schedule, which can hurt your ability to get work done the next day. Challenge yourself to track how much time you spend on Instagram in three days by swiping up and setting a stopwatch before you start scrolling. If the results are more than you bargained for you may benefit from scaling back a bit.
3. You NEED to get the perfect brunch shot.
Sometimes it seems as if Instagram is conditioning us to look for the next shot to post. Especially if you’re a content creator, it’s so easy to get caught up in making sure you have enough photos to post for the week. Instead of just enjoying our lives, we often find ourselves rushing to document everything with a camera. It’s eye-opening to see how many phones go up throughout a concert or over a table at a restaurant. Being able to capture memories so easily is amazing, but we can’t let it keep us from truly being present for those moments.
It may seem a little strange at first, but letting go of Instagram can actually be a huge relief!