I Lived A Year Without Instagram. Here’s What Happened.

Four ways living without Instagram improved my life.

People without an Instagram account are becoming increasingly rare. My parents, seven-year-old niece, and the dog down the street all have an Instagram account.

We humans seem to be obsessed with this photo-based platform. Not only do we use it for entertainment purposes, but also to keep up with friends, to inform ourselves on worldly matters, and to build businesses.

All of this was true for me as well. For three years, I used Instagram to share the lessons I learned as a twentysomething, express my creativity, and stay in touch with everyone I met (I mean, did you even spend time together if you didn’t gain a follower?).

As a photographer without a formal education, I was confident that Instagram was the place to be. It’s where I could share my photographs, gain an audience, and ultimately book clients for photoshoots.

Instagram was my recipe to success, or so I thought.

I Decided To Leave Instagram

After two years of actively spending several hours a day engaging with my tiny audience and trying to keep up with the demanding algorithm by posting photographs every day, I started questioning my relationship with the platform.

Sure, I had booked my first few photoshoots, and people seemed to be interested in my photography, but what else was this platform bringing me?

What were the downsides to spending all this time online?

Was this indeed the best way to build a career as a photographer?

Several pro’s-and-con’s-lists later, I decided the only way I’d know the value Instagram brought to my life was by leaving it and seeing what would happen. It has now been a year since I left Instagram. Here’s what I experienced.

I'm Still the Same Person

I expected that leaving Instagram would have a significant impact on my life. I had spent several hours a day on this platform, so I assumed I would undoubtedly have some withdrawal symptoms.

In reality, however, my life without Instagram blended seamlessly with my life before. I traveled to Bali to visit my sister. It felt refreshing to simply enjoy the view from the plane, reunite with my sister, and fully experience Bali’s beautiful landscape — without having to share it on Instagram.

I didn’t miss sharing my entire trip with other people. In fact, I was experiencing some of the best moments of my life, and not posting about it on social media felt peaceful. That was a real eye-opener for me. That’s when I knew that Instagram wasn’t as important as I first thought.

No More Mood Swings

Prior to quitting Instagram, I was prone to mood swings. I could go from feeling good about myself to thinking I was a failure in seconds.

It wasn't until I distanced myself from social media that I found the source of my mood-swings wasn’t me; it was the constant stream of external input that I had been exposing myself to through these platforms.

I’ve spent many nights ‘alone’ while feeding my brain a constant stream of other people’s thoughts and ideas through social media. This usually left me feeling more restless than when I started my precious alone time…

In our overstimulated digital world, it is becoming increasingly difficult to separate your own life and your own thoughts from other people's lives and opinions. Opening the Instagram app is like allowing hundreds of people into your living room to throw random information at you. No wonder stress and anxiety are on the rise.

Once I left Instagram, my emotional and mental health stabilized. I no longer experience intense ups and downs, and my overactive monkey-mind has calmed down. It’s been more than a year since leaving Instagram, and I’ve never been as positive, calm, and stable as I am now.

More Present to the Moment — Experiencing the World Through My Eyes, Not My Phone.

Early one morning, while visiting my sister in Bali, I sat down at this rock near the waterfall. As the day progressed, I watched tourist after tourist walk around the corner to the waterfall and, before even realizing what they’d seen, grab their phones to take a picture.

Some of them were so fast to grab their phone that I doubt they even experienced the waterfall with their own eyes.

Nowadays, it’s so easy to take a picture with your phone and post it on social media. It’s almost too easy — and it seems like we’ve developed this collective anxiety to capture and share every beautiful moment we live through.

It’s like we want to capture every memory and freeze this moment in time instead of fully experiencing it through our own eyes. With our ability to quickly snap a picture, most of us have forgotten to let time do its thing and we try to freeze the clock whenever possible.

I get it. As a photographer, it's my job to create frozen moments. When I was still using Instagram, it felt almost compulsory to capture everything I saw and experienced — and it caused feelings of anxiety when I failed to capture these moments.

But let’s be honest. The photograph of that sunset is never as beautiful as the way you see it through your own eyes. That special moment with your loved one is never as special on video as it is in real life.

Without Instagram, I no longer feel the unhealthy urge to capture as much as I can. Not having to record every trip to the beach or each diner with my friends allows me to be more present and enjoy life without fearing that time is slipping through my fingers.

I Went From Being a Regular Student To Being a Top Student

It's so tempting when things get difficult or a bit boring in class to grab your phone and start scrolling through Instagram, even if it’s just for a few minutes.

Aside from entertaining you, Instagram is also the perfect place to vent about exams, get sympathy for your struggles, and complain about your life as a student.

No exam week went by where I didn't share a selfie of myself buried in books. This may seem innocent, but if you think about it, that photo costs me:

• Ten minutes to get the right lighting.
• Twenty minutes to try and come up with a funny, clever caption that would be popular with my fellow students.
• The better part of an hour getting sucked into other people's posts.
• The rest of the afternoon reacting to the information I'd seen. “That sandwich Tina posted seems delicious. I'm actually kinda hungry myself. Maybe I should head over to the supermarket and make something similar? I could watch an episode of Modern Family while I eat."

Also, I don’t know about you, but I’ve never posted anything on Instagram without worrying about what people were going to think. Now I'm not only distracted, but I'm also feeling slightly anxious for the rest of the day. Not the best combination if you need to get some work done.

In my first two years of university, when I was still on Instagram, my average grade was a 6.9 out of 10. I never failed a class, but I wasn’t a top student either. After leaving Instagram, however, I haven't received a grade below an eight.

My days without social media contained more focused hours, in which I was able to study without getting distracted all the time. This helped me complete my tasks a lot faster, having more free time in the day while getting higher grades. It was a win-win.

Besides, social media contains a lot of negativity about life as a student. I’ve never seen a student post “I love studying!”. In fact, it’s more socially acceptable to hate school than to enjoy it.

By distancing myself from the opinions of my fellow students on social media, I finally had the room to explore my own feelings about studying at university. My outlook on my education became more positive, and I felt capable of doing so much better than before.

So Now What?

You may have just read my story and find yourself thinking: "That's good for you, Aleid, but what about the positive things Instagram adds to my life? What about my friends who live far away that I want to stay connected to? What about the space it offers for my artwork? What about the inspiring people who make me feel better about my body image?"

Take a deep breath.

Whatever you decide to do or not do after reading this, it’s alright. If leaving Instagram altogether seems too much, why not try it out for a month, a week, or even a day?

Don’t just assume that Instagram is the best marketing tool for your small business or that you'll lose touch with your friends if you're not participating online. Test it out for yourself!

If you have any questions about my experience without Instagram, don’t hesitate to comment below.

Stay Kind,

Aleid

If you find articles like this valuable and want to support my work, consider signing up to Medium. You get unlimited access to all articles from thousands of writers. If you sign up using my link, I’ll earn a small commission. I appreciate your support!