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Update: See my follow-up to this piece here.
You don’t have to look far to see staggering statistics related to social media:
- In January of 2020 there were 3.8 billion social media users.
- In 2019 & 2020 the average daily social media usage was 145 minutes.
- In 2020, 40 billion dollars were spent on social media advertising.
Whether you view social media as inherently good or bad, it’s hard to look past the volume of people using it in their daily lives. I mean, there’s a good chance you were using Instagram or Facebook just before reading this post! Given that social media is ubiquitous, why in the hell would I cut one of the biggest platforms out of my life?
I’d like to share four reasons why deleting Instagram has been my best decision so far in 2021.
1. It Distracted Me from What is Truly Important
When I read Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less in February, I was floored by one specific sentence in the first chapter:
“If you don’t prioritize your life, someone else will.”
My mind immediately harkened back to watching The Social Dilemma earlier that month. I’m no genius, but it didn’t take long for me to connect the dots and immediately delete Instagram – no messages to my closest friends; no farewell posts humble-bragging about my step into the darkness. I just left.
What clicked for me wasn’t that social media was the devil. The issue was that I let it take control of my life. I was the cliche: I didn’t use social media; it used me. Only once it was gone was I able to start sorting through my priorities. Not only did I gain two extra hours a day, I gained all the mental space previously dedicated to scrolling, posting, liking, commenting, etc. It was like I formatted my hard drive and could start fresh.
I’d be lying if I told you that I now have no unnecessary distractions (I’m looking at you, YouTube), but my decision to quit Instagram started a chain reaction of positive decisions. Instead of blindly following the crowd, I was better able to ask “Why?” before saying or doing something. This is a process that will likely take a lifetime to master, but I’m positive this was my first breakthrough.
2. It Caused Me to Purchase Items I Didn’t Need
To be fair, any purchases I made as a result of Instagram were 100% my choice; however, it’s important that we don’t underestimate the power of marketing and the masses.
Marketing – The amount of money (link) spent on ads should speak for itself, but to state the obvious, social media is not free. Our views and clicks are being sold to the highest bidder because the longer we’re glued to our phones, the more likely we are to see an ad that speaks to our insecurities and will “fix” our problems for a low price of $XX.XX. That being said it does become fairly easy to ignore ads as you scroll. They’re annoying but not nearly as insidious as our friends.
The Masses – If you’re anything like I was, Instagram was the perfect place to show off how I looked, the things I bought, and the fun places I went. Unfortunately, all my friends did the same thing, causing me to be in a constant state of jealousy, or at least envy. Luckily for me, buying those items was only a quick click away. I COULD BE AS COOL AS MY FRIENDS – at least until they got another new, shiny thing.
Again, it’s nothing new that social media can contribute to discontentment, but for some reason I thought I was immune to its gravitational pull – I wasn’t. One example of my attempt to keep up was purchasing physical Nintendo Switch games. I had no preference for physical media over digital, but I found myself purchasing them for no other reason than to have more content for my feed.
Of course, it’s not all bad – none of the people I followed were forcing me to feel insecure, and none of the things I purchased or did as a result of social media were particularly detrimental, but at a certain point, the decisions to purchase and do those things were no longer for me. My focus was on the image I would present to others rather than on my own joy.
Without the constant stream of flashy photos flying past my face, I’m better able to practice contentment, self-control, and intentional spending.
3. It Led Me to Think I had Friends
“Social media use continues to grow and is especially prevalent among young adults. It is surprising then that, in spite of this enhanced interconnectivity, young adults may be lonelier than other age groups, and that the current generation may be the loneliest ever.”
On the surface, it felt like I had thousands of friends around the globe. I knew many of them by name, interacted with them on a daily basis, and felt an emotional connection with them. I even traveled long distances to meet quite a few of them! The issue was that the connectivity blinded me to my severe lack of friendships in real life. I passed loneliness off as a normal male trait and distracted myself with hundreds of casual friendships.
One of the most painful aspects of nixing Instagram was the friendships I “lost” overnight, but through that process, I’ve become more present in my real-life relationships and have even discovered new ways to meet people. Also, I realized there are plenty of other ways to stay connected with those online friends who I was close with.
4. It Became an Escape
All too often I found myself scrolling through Instagram without remembering why I opened it in the first place. I would click the app, refresh my feed, close the app, open the app, refresh my feed, etc. At the surface, the issue seemed to be an addiction to social media, but it turned out to be a symptom of deeper fears:
- Fear of Failure – You know what’s better than thinking about being a failure? Four new likes, a direct message, and a share.
- Fear of the Future – Why think about the future when I can zone out with cat reels?
- Fear of Not Having a Purpose – I let myself be deceived into thinking that Instagram provided me with purpose.
There are plenty more, but you get the picture. Social media was no longer a powerful tool I was wielding, it was a numbing drug that I was using.
So, What Now?
It’s been four months since I’ve touched Instagram, and I plan to keep it that way for the foreseeable future. That being said, I’m currently in the process of incorporating Twitter into my life. I’m proceeding with caution given my previous experience, but I’m hopeful that with proper planning, I can avoid making the same mistakes and instead use Twitter as a beneficial tool for this blog.
If you’re interested in cutting out a specific platform, all social media, or reducing your technology consumption as a whole, feel free to reach out to me via email and also consider reading Digital Minimalism: Choosing a Focused Life in a Noisy World. It’s an incredible book that dives deeper into the why and how behind decluttering your digital life.