Recently, I decided to delete Instagram off of my phone. As trivial and as first world as that may sound, it was for a good reason. Although I have slipped up and gone back into the app store to re-download it, it has helped me a lot to go without seeing hundreds of other people's pictures each day.
It may sound dumb, but scrolling through Instagram can take a toll. I knew it was time to do something about it when I noticed it was affecting me in more ways than one. The first and most obvious reason Instagram was a problem for me was because it is such a huge distraction when trying to do homework. I would find myself scrolling through my feed, closing the app to do work, but then going back and opening the app again minutes later because I was avoiding doing my homework. The amount of time spent on Instagram is probably much more than I'm willing to admit, and with midterms looming overhead, I knew it was time to take control of the situation. In this case, deleting the app was an obvious solution.
Another more serious issue I was facing was that going on Instagram was upsetting me instead of making me happy. Every time I would scroll through my feed, I would feel like everyone else was having better experiences at school, going to cooler places, and just looking better than I ever could. I constantly found (and, unfortunately, continue to find) that I was comparing other people in these square images to myself, scrutinizing every detail and asking myself things like: "Am I happy enough?" "Am I pretty enough?" "Do I like my school enough?" Comparing my life to all of these perfectly staged images of people, places, and food (because let's be real, Instagram really is just a place where everyone tries to convince others their lives are perfect) stressed me out much more than it should have. When this realization finally hit me, I knew I should finally do something to change it.
When I deleted Instagram, I was surprised at how fine I felt. I didn't feel like there was something missing, I didn't feel the need to immediately re-download the app, and I didn't feel like I was out of the loop when someone brought up another person's post at dinner. Although I was fine with it, others didn't seem to be. I had friends give me weird looks, and many seemed unconvinced when I told them it was because I just didn't want to have the app.
Instagram is, in a sense, a made-up world that millions feed into. While I'm in no way saying or implying anything about the app or its users (I do still go on it), if you feel like it's having a negative affect on your life I would definitely recommend deleting it for a time. While it may seem pointless to some, all of this may help someone out there who finds that they relate to that feeling, and that's all I care about.