A Week Without Instagram

I gave up Instagram for a week and the outcome was great! It was actually part of a project I did for school relating back to a book my language arts class was reading. The assignment was to give up something prominent in your life and record the experience.  I choose Instagram. Instagram is something I spend quite a lot of time on and this assignment helped me prove to myself that although Instagram is such a huge part of society and my daily life I do not need it 24/7.

My experience:

It was very strange deleting Instagram off my phone Monday morning and knowing that I had lost something that was part of my daily routine. I found myself relying on other forms of social media, such as Facebook, Snapchat, and Youtube to occupy the time that would have been spent on Instagram. It is funny because when I am on Instagram I don’t feel like I am wasting my time, but strangely enough, I did feel that way when I was on other social media platforms. I had to explain to my friends that I would not be on Instagram for the week so they knew they could not reach me in that way and that I would not see their posts. Everyone I talked to agreed it would be hard to complete a week without Instagram. People would Snapchat me telling them to look at their picture, but I was unable to. The first few times this happened I felt as if I was missing out, but then I just began to disregard their messages. The break from Instagram made me realize how much time I normally spend on my phone. I still found myself procrastinating before beginning homework which was the opposite of the goal I had in mind. Later in the week I definitely did not miss Instagram anymore, but I do think that in the back of my head I knew I would download it again in only a few short days, which caused me not to worry or think about it too much. As the following Monday rolled around the thought of downloading the app actually made me nervous – I think because I had so much to catch up on. I was very proud of myself for having the willpower to give it up, but at the end of the day it is a way to stay in touch with people. I think that this was very rewarding to do and that it taught me everything is good in moderation! I would try this again, but I am definitely not giving Instagram up for good.