Welcome to the other side 👀 loved this! And the memes girlll, i miss em too. btw you are going to be that weird friend without ig. weird but cool, you know? 😆
I deleted my instagram and tiktok accounts about a month and a half ago and honestly I have never felt better. There's a tinge of self surveillance (flipping through my own insta stories or watching my own tiktoks comes to mind) in those apps that just doesn't sit right with me...
Loved reading this! Fellow OG blogger of 2009 here, and I've been contemplating getting rid of Instagram. I took a month-long break in March and it felt so good! It was eye-opening to not be capturing everything for the sole purpose of sharing it, and soon I realised how soul-soothing it was to share things directly, in real time, with loved ones.
Welcome to the club! life is more chill without having to document my life while simultaneously ingesting the updates of 1000s of strangers friends and brands.
Yes, I often find that the trickiest, how it now seems to be unavoidable in terms of work, especially in certain creative professions. I hope I'll be able to work my way around it! 💗
This is the sign I needed! I used Instagram as my own personal picture journal (lol) for so long that deleting it makes me panic and also excited. How I’m going to keep in touch with people is my main concern now. Such an eye opening story! When you said about who loves social media, I felt that
Hi Eva! I know, it can feel so scary... But perhaps that's a good sign? It's exciting (and a bit rebellious!) to do things our own way. I am looking forward to read your experiences about this! 🧡
Funnily enough, I came across your post after closing Instagram in frustration! I’ve recently changed my IG from a personal/freelance to just business and even that has been freeing in a way, but it’s so easy to realise you’ve been scrolling for ages without actually getting any enjoyment from it.
I loved reading this piece, you summarised all my feelings about social media and what it’s done to our behaviour so eloquently.
Thanks for your comment Julia, I am happy it resonated with you. In my own experience I found that switching from Personal to Business account on IG was even more anxiety inducing for me, since they give you even MORE insight into who sees your content. "Your post are mainly reaching Australian brunette women in their 20 who are named Alice" - that kind of thing 😂
"How would I encapsulate all these different parts of myself in a catchy social media bio and monetise them into bite-size portions of content that would potentially lead me to my Dream Job? What’s even my Dream Job? Shouldn’t I know it by now? Why do I still don’t know? I felt I was wasting too much time thinking about this instead of actively trying to figure out or catching up on the It Ends with Us drama." FUUUUCKKKKK AAAAAAAAAAAAA 😭😭😭😭
Hi Cynthia <3, I deleted my instagram about two years ago. Last year, I decided to make another account with the sole purpose of only following close friends/family. It was short-lived. I deleted that account this summer and I don't regret it. I loved your piece because I resonated with your experience. I promise peace will outweigh any withdrawal feeling in the long run. Be well xoxo
Thank you for your beautiful comment, Eve 🧡 What made you delete the close friends and family account so far? (I think would have reacted the same tho!)
As private as it was, I still saw myself repeating bad habits such as doomscrolling which impacted my mental health (negatively). I wanted the account to serve as my own little digital diary, but it took me a year to post a picture (I mainly used it to post stories) because somewhere down the line posting pictures brought a tremendous amount of unwarranted pressure. The more I was on the app the less I felt like myself (hope this makes sense) <3
Such a fantastic read - thank you! Made me chuckle too.
I deactivated my account for 7 weeks a couple of months back and I felt so free... unfortunately I need to keep it for work opportunities :( so felt I had to log back in. But those 7 weeks were a quiet bliss...
Love reading your take on this. I feel anxiety every time I open Instagram, but I can’t take that last step and delete it, it’s an awful feeling. For now, I’ve deleted the app from my phone.
Also, I noticed I stopped posting pictures once I started a physical family photo album; from that moment on, I didn’t take photos for Instagram, but for myself and my family. And it’s liberating and great. Just an idea if you still love taking photos and want to avoid staring at your phone every time you want to check them!
I think I am going to copy your idea of a physical album! I don't remember where I read it too but a good idea is to make an annual album at the end of the year with the best moments and even the process of selecting, printing and writing little captions for those photos can be a fun task ✨💖
Hi Blogspot pal!! Just saved your "Going Offline" post for reading it this weekend :))
Thank you Laura, I appreciate this! 💗
Welcome to the other side 👀 loved this! And the memes girlll, i miss em too. btw you are going to be that weird friend without ig. weird but cool, you know? 😆
Low-key loving being the weird/cool friend so far, ngl!! 💗Thank you for that!
I deleted my instagram and tiktok accounts about a month and a half ago and honestly I have never felt better. There's a tinge of self surveillance (flipping through my own insta stories or watching my own tiktoks comes to mind) in those apps that just doesn't sit right with me...
I know! That "Watching my own stories as if I wasn't me" - I recognise it lol 🙈😂
Loved reading this! Fellow OG blogger of 2009 here, and I've been contemplating getting rid of Instagram. I took a month-long break in March and it felt so good! It was eye-opening to not be capturing everything for the sole purpose of sharing it, and soon I realised how soul-soothing it was to share things directly, in real time, with loved ones.
Oh hey! 👋🏻 I've saved your "In my post-influencer era" newsletter for this week, looks like a reading I am going to relate a lot to!
Welcome to the club! life is more chill without having to document my life while simultaneously ingesting the updates of 1000s of strangers friends and brands.
YES! 💗 I hope yesterday's zoom was good! I was tempted to join the event but I am currently nursing a lovely cold...
The call was so good, thank you! Feel better!
Have also deleted my personal instagram 👋 I wish I didn't need social media for work otherwise i’d unplug completely. Substack is now the default app.
Yes, I often find that the trickiest, how it now seems to be unavoidable in terms of work, especially in certain creative professions. I hope I'll be able to work my way around it! 💗
This is the sign I needed! I used Instagram as my own personal picture journal (lol) for so long that deleting it makes me panic and also excited. How I’m going to keep in touch with people is my main concern now. Such an eye opening story! When you said about who loves social media, I felt that
Hi Eva! I know, it can feel so scary... But perhaps that's a good sign? It's exciting (and a bit rebellious!) to do things our own way. I am looking forward to read your experiences about this! 🧡
Funnily enough, I came across your post after closing Instagram in frustration! I’ve recently changed my IG from a personal/freelance to just business and even that has been freeing in a way, but it’s so easy to realise you’ve been scrolling for ages without actually getting any enjoyment from it.
I loved reading this piece, you summarised all my feelings about social media and what it’s done to our behaviour so eloquently.
Thanks for your comment Julia, I am happy it resonated with you. In my own experience I found that switching from Personal to Business account on IG was even more anxiety inducing for me, since they give you even MORE insight into who sees your content. "Your post are mainly reaching Australian brunette women in their 20 who are named Alice" - that kind of thing 😂
Haha that’s so true! If you have some time off posting it sends you lovely notifications like “your reach is down 63647% since last week” as well 🥲
"How would I encapsulate all these different parts of myself in a catchy social media bio and monetise them into bite-size portions of content that would potentially lead me to my Dream Job? What’s even my Dream Job? Shouldn’t I know it by now? Why do I still don’t know? I felt I was wasting too much time thinking about this instead of actively trying to figure out or catching up on the It Ends with Us drama." FUUUUCKKKKK AAAAAAAAAAAAA 😭😭😭😭
Hi Cynthia <3, I deleted my instagram about two years ago. Last year, I decided to make another account with the sole purpose of only following close friends/family. It was short-lived. I deleted that account this summer and I don't regret it. I loved your piece because I resonated with your experience. I promise peace will outweigh any withdrawal feeling in the long run. Be well xoxo
Thank you for your beautiful comment, Eve 🧡 What made you delete the close friends and family account so far? (I think would have reacted the same tho!)
As private as it was, I still saw myself repeating bad habits such as doomscrolling which impacted my mental health (negatively). I wanted the account to serve as my own little digital diary, but it took me a year to post a picture (I mainly used it to post stories) because somewhere down the line posting pictures brought a tremendous amount of unwarranted pressure. The more I was on the app the less I felt like myself (hope this makes sense) <3
Ahhh love this. I am in the same boat - going on about three weeks now. Thanks for the read & connect of experiences!
Thanks for reading Ryan :)
Such a fantastic read - thank you! Made me chuckle too.
I deactivated my account for 7 weeks a couple of months back and I felt so free... unfortunately I need to keep it for work opportunities :( so felt I had to log back in. But those 7 weeks were a quiet bliss...
Thanks for reading Clementine 🧡 I hope you've found ways to incorporate that quiet bliss into your daily life!
Love reading your take on this. I feel anxiety every time I open Instagram, but I can’t take that last step and delete it, it’s an awful feeling. For now, I’ve deleted the app from my phone.
Also, I noticed I stopped posting pictures once I started a physical family photo album; from that moment on, I didn’t take photos for Instagram, but for myself and my family. And it’s liberating and great. Just an idea if you still love taking photos and want to avoid staring at your phone every time you want to check them!
I think I am going to copy your idea of a physical album! I don't remember where I read it too but a good idea is to make an annual album at the end of the year with the best moments and even the process of selecting, printing and writing little captions for those photos can be a fun task ✨💖
Love that idea!
This was a remarkable read. I’ve been toying around with deleting my Instagram, for a good while now, & this is helping me visualize a path to freedom
Thanks Marco!