Hello, my name is Josue and I used to be an addict. No, not to drugs, or gambling, or alcohol, or any of the top five things you may have thought of.

I was an addict to Instagram.

Back in late 2014, I figured it might be nice to give myself some goals. With a camera in hand, I decided to try posting some of my photography to the platform. I told myself I’ll do whatever it takes to become “Instagram famous.” As the new year started, I kept posting my photos on the platform trying to imagine each and every single one will perhaps make a difference.

I’d spend hours on Instagram a day. My friends at school would always catch me on it and always had to say something. But they just didn’t understand - I’m close to a thousand followers, I need to build up my brand! I need to like hundreds of random people’s photos so they can see my name and like my stuff back!

I reached two thousand, and then one of my photos got chosen to be featured on the official Instagram page - liked by over seven hundred thousand people - and suddenly I thought, “I’m getting there. I’m going to be famous!” I craved something I once thought to be important - to have my name be known.

No, not my actual name - my Instagram name of course.

After reaching three thousand followers and spending what felt like literal days of my life on the app, I met with people that actually work at Instagram, got invited to a Facebook page for unique and youthful Instagrammers (is that a word?) under the age of 25 and got chosen to be a suggested user for the platform. Suddenly, my followers boosted up to 49 thousand, and I swore I was high.

I reached my goal, I finally made it.

But then I finally decided to take a look around me and the past year. Family members were in the hospital, my grades slipped to a point it never should have, I’ve been written up and sent to go to a police station in the name of doing things for Instagram. I never once bothered to ask myself, “What the hell am I thinking?” because I was too busy thinking, “Damn, how could I get even more likes on my next photo?” Soon enough it wasn’t hard to ask myself, “Was it even worth it?”

In some ways, yes it was. I never had such a more exciting year going out and exploring my city, getting better at photography and meeting so many new people. But not being in the moment for so many important and life-changing events in my life back in 2015 - that was not worth it. Instagram, or any social media platform, should never take the place of family, friends, self-being or education.

Don’t get caught up building up a fake version of yourself when the real version of you struggles to keep up with an evergoing life.

I’m still on Instagram daily, but not at a level that I was once anymore. I no longer care about posting every single day, because quite frankly there’s more important things to life than just that. If you ever feel like you’re slowly getting addicted to social media, whether it be Instagram or anything else, please feel free to email - I’ll be more than happy to help you out.