The year was 2011.
A group of girls from my class were busy on their iPhone 4. Back then, people staring at their phones wasn’t an everyday sight.
“Aleid! Have you seen this?” The girls looked up from their phones and called me over.
They showed me Instagram.
At that time, only a few people from our school were using it, and I was about to become one of them.
They set up my account, took a picture of me, put a filter over it (probably Clarendon or Valencia), posted it on my profile, and gave it my first ‘likes.’
Over the next eight years, Instagram slowly turned from a casual platform with square pictures and tacky filters to a highly addicting app that would come to consume about 3–4 hours of my days.
Until I decided it was enough.
In December 2019, I left the platform, deleted the app, and never looked back. I didn’t anticipate that this decision would change my life so drastically.
And I was surprised in what way.
I Lost Some 'Friends'
But my inner circle got stronger.
One primary reason to leave Instagram was to focus on building stronger relationships.
Leaving Instagram relieved me from fake meme friendships: Relationships based on exchanging likes, comments, and memes.
The time I wasted on maintaining my online connections, I now spend deepening my relationships with my physical friends and family.
"We're living for people we're never going to meet, and neglecting people that are going to be here forever" - Jordan Hawkins My Anxiety Levels Dropped
When my Instagram consumption peaked, my confidence was at an ultimate low.
I posted on Instagram because I needed feedback on my life.
Am I pretty? Interesting? Likable?
Every ‘like’ confirmed that I was on the right track.
Every underperforming post pushed the button of negative self-talk.
“If you need others to know that you are doing well, you’re not doing well.” — Nassim TalebStrangers Don't Influence My Life Anymore
When two things exist next to each other, we’re forced to compare them.
Picture this: Me scrolling my phone in bed or “that girl” drinking green smoothies and doing squats on my Instagram feed.
You can imagine who comes out on top.
Social media’s biggest downside is it sucks you into a constant comparison loop.
I always felt worthless after using Instagram.
Being exposed to thousands of lives worldwide means someone is always going to do better or look better than you — or at least appear so online.
We all need a small group of friends that will give you advice and guide you, but without realizing it we allow a much bigger group of people to start influencing our thoughts and emotions.I Became Smarter
In 2015, Canadian researchers found that a human’s capacity to focus is lower than that of a goldfish.
The study suggests that an increased digitalized lifestyle causes people to now generally lose focus after eight seconds — the average attention span of the goldfish is nine seconds.
Before leaving Instagram, I felt like a goldfish.
I constantly found myself distracted and wasn’t able to read lengthy papers or pay attention to my teachers without grabbing my phone to give me a little dopamine kick.
Leaving Instagram revealed my full productive potential.
For the first time in years, my brain wasn’t drowning in information, and I had enough attention left to solve complex problems and finish projects I started.
“If you have no ability to hold your attention, you have lost your ability to access your intelligence.” — SadhguruMeditation Became a Lifestyle, Not an Exercise
It’s no surprise that meditation has gained popularity over the past years: Our lives got so busy and fast that we now have to practice standing still and breathing.
Our generation is subconsciously taught that even when you do have a 2–10 minute break, the only thing you can do is go on your phone.
One habit that naturally formed after leaving Instagram is passive meditation: Using moments of downtime to process and dissolve my thoughts.
Instead of grabbing my phone while waiting on the bus or until the barista makes my cup of coffee, I give my mind a break from the input of others and let the stream of thoughts naturally slow down.
“Nothing, to my way of thinking, is a better proof of a well ordered mind than a man’s ability to stop just where he is and pass some time in his own company.” - SenecaMy Purchases Are No Longer Influenced By My Feed
Instagram might be a free platform, but it has caused me to spend far more money than I would have without it.
It has influenced the vacations I booked, the books I read, and the clothes I bought.
Smart-designed algorithms present content and products most enticing to you by tracking your online behavior.
Without the constant exposure to product launches, ads, and influencer affiliate links, I can now identify the products that bring me long-term happiness and not just instant gratification.
"In the age of hyper-capitalism, it’s harder than ever to buy the things we actually need. We are bombarded to death with cheap offers, over-promising marketing schemes, and wild sales tactics. As a result, we buy things we don’t need to impress people we don’t like." — Stephan JoppichI Found Out I Had Hobbies
Before leaving Instagram, I thought that the best way to relax after a hard day at the office was to have an evening entirely devoid of plans or commitments.
But then I found myself, several hours of scrolling and screen tapping later, somehow more exhausted than I began.
Leaving Instagram meant I was left with a few hours of dead space in my days. During this time I discovered true relaxation: Activities that generate new energy, help center yourself, and make you live more in the moment.
I like reading fiction, climbing, silence, building things with my hands, and making my own soups from scratch.
“If you are losing your leisure, look out! — It may be you are losing your soul.” ― Virginia WoolfI’m No Longer Up-To-Date (And I Love It)
When I was active on Instagram, I felt constant pressure to stay on top of everything:
- The latest news
- New podcast to listen to
- Fashion trends
- Which celebrities were booming
- Popular television shows
- The market
Let alone posts from friends and family, which I felt obliged to read and like.
I was desperate to catch up, keep up, and pay up.
I could no longer process all the information I consumed online or turn it into knowledge.
Leaving Instagram has freed me from the burden of knowing everything and being everywhere.
“One of the most powerful things you can do as a human being in our hyperconnected, 24/7 media world is say: I don’t know. Or, more provocatively: I don’t care.”— Ryan HolidayMy Life Is No Longer ‘Instagrammable’
But not any less memorable.
Before leaving Instagram, I was used to looking at the world as a social media feed: Everything was a potential post or story.
After leaving Instagram, I realized that not every experience has to be captured, and not every opinion has to be shared.
Nowadays, my best memories exist only in my heart, and some of my best thoughts live only in my journal.Ultimately, leaving Instagram was the right choice for me because the platform’s toxicity started to outweigh its benefits.
I hope my story encourages people to take some time off a social media platform they feel negativity towards and explore who they are outside their profile.
I’m an all-or-nothing kind of person, but you don’t have to go 100% to still see a change.
Thanks for reading — and as always, stay kind :)
