I quit instagram around six months ago after eight years of being an active user. I did experience the FOMO at first, but now it really doesn't make a big difference. I am really liking this non reel-scrolling thumb of mine. As long as I had that online presence, I don't think I did anything else apart from spending hours together on watching reels, my brain was looking for some way to experience dopamine hits and instagram satisfied that yearning. I used to grow so frustrated with myself that I would go just as far as deleting the app, but it was not that efficient a solution because you can download the app again in seconds (except if you are a leo 5g user). The real change occured when I permanently deleted my account.
It occured to me that social media was giving me a platform to be someone that I am not. I think I was in school when I started to use instagram, at that point there was this obsessive need to organise my wall and have an impressive bio. How I portrayed myself online affected how I saw myself in real life, in retrospect this sounds like utter nonsense. As years passed, I phased out of that sort of an obsession and it became more of an obsession with reel-scrolling. If you asked what I learnt from that or what is the content of the reel I watched two reels back, I would blink. As many studies have pointed out that these videos which are of no significant length but packed with lots of visual details, are not good for the brain. Our brains cannot handle so much in a short span, it needs time to take in the details and soak in it and it is our duty to give it the time it needs. our attention span reduces with the constant exposure to the various stimuli in these bite-sized videos.
This post is not to show you that I deserve an applause just because I quit something that most of us are addicted to, I aim at creating awareness. With one distraction gone, I have another now. Every app is looking to make us stay in it for as long as possible and so they all have a section for short videos. My other distraction right now is youtube, but it is not as bad as instagram for me as there are options to hide shorts out of your sight. I do not know what will happen in the future, I might or might not come back to instagram but it is less frustrating to not be in it, I like it this way. It gives me time to think about other things in life and develop new hobbies. If at all I come back, I would make sure that I have a good control over myself.
I encourage you all to try taking a break from social media if you think you are too addicted and unproductive and experience how it feels to live without an overworked thumb.
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