Today, I closed my Instagram account. In a way, it shouldn’t be a surprise, this is something I have been going back and forth in my head for months. Some obvious reasons, it’s a Facebook owned service, no matter how much I love the app — or used to.
I had quit Facebook years ago, and I’ve been okay and happy with that decision. I had closed my Instagram account before, and always coming back to it. Usually under the excuse that, I miss friends and family and Instagram is the “less Facebooky way” to do to stay in touch. Then I promise myself that I’d keep it small and under control, friends and family only. The thing is, I have no control. I start with just family and friends, and then I keep following other things and all they do is add some kind of anxiety. Either the content or the time I spend on the platform, I’m not certain.
One day, I had decided to do an unfollowing spree, to see if that’d help, and it really didn’t. I was still anxious about it, also spending too much time doom scrolling. It started to feel toxic — for me.
Instagram, toxic, isn’t that Twitter’s role? Well, for me, Instagram became a little toxic. Even if I deleted the app from my phone, I would find any excuse to re-download it and go back to doom-scrolling and following more accounts just because. Recent events have also played a role in my decision. I was seeing too much, not necessarily on my feed but on my stories. But Gaby, just ignore the stories. I can’t, I have a problem, and it’s that I am a completionist. I cannot have those circles on top, so I go through each one and there’s where I’d see most of the stuff I really didn’t want to see. Maybe you’re just following the wrong people, Gabz, well maybe or maybe not.
Regardless, this has been a long time coming, and this morning, I didn’t think twice, opened my browser and closed the account. The people who matter know where and how to reach me.
I still have my Twitter, apparently I do a better job there managing my timeline. Always a third-party app so no circles with stories on top to complete 😁
