Changes after 1 year of quitting Instagram.
I learned the whole concept of not using social media after reading "Deep Work" by Cal Newport in 2018. It's an excellent book where the author lays out the advantages of living a focused life. This book (along with his TED-talk) convinced me to quit Instagram (and later twitter).
I first started off by permanently deleting my Instagram account. It was really hard to do it. But, as I was really motivated after reading the book, I could somehow do it. But as I was using it for so long, quitting Instagram took a toll on me. I remember just lying on bed later that evening knowing that I have lost my social life. After a week and getting almost an anxiety attack, I made a new account and got back.
This deactivate and reactivate cycle went on for another few months. It gets to April, 2021. I felt I should deactivate my account again and I did it. Since then, I haven't reactivated my account.
This brought a radical change for me. Now that I wasn't on Instagram, the only way to make new friends in college was to approach them (rather than stalking them on insta). Over the past year I was able to learn this. It felt relieving that it's not that hard to do it. Currently many of them know that I am not on Instagram. They think it's unnatural (as if it's a government order for everyone to make an account and I am an outcast).
Along with being able to socialize well, I even found great peace while I was out with my family and friends. While most of the people were recording the event on their phones, I was enjoying every bit of it without touching my phone. I also experienced that I was able to connect really well with my family on trips as I was fully involved in the conversation rather than thinking of what to put on my Insta story next.
Trust me, yes it was hard. Too hard. But right now it feels as if I took one of the best decisions of my life.
This doesn't mean I don't prefer entertainment. I'm just not a fan of this kind of entertainment. I think most people defend social media because they have not tried quitting it in the first place.
Now, let me share the biggest realization after quitting social media. I found that hardly anyone noticed that I wasn't using Instagram. Earlier, I thought that my stories really matter to other people but I was wrong. It doesn't. No one really cares.
This whole idea also led me to quit Twitter 6 months back as well. Once again, a great decision. I still never miss a breaking news.
It's interesting to see that this whole experience is like quitting drugs. I do think that social media is the new-age drug for all ages (which is terrifying).
My goal was to share my experience via a short blog. I think it's not short anymore, but this is really something that I wanted to share. I personally think that the decision of removing social media should be more simplified for people. Because I am sure there are many people (like me) who would be living more peceful and happy life if they tried deleting Facebook, Instagram etc from their lives.