Please excuse the lack of post last Monday–norovirus was wrapping up its stay at our house and my head was in a thousand different places!
I’ve been thinking about this—and other offline-ing life changes—for a while. Finally pulled the trigger this week! So if you’re looking for @justtoclaireifyblog and wondering if I blocked you for some reason… nope! I just don’t exist on the ‘gram anymore.
I’ve written a lot about my tenuous relationship with social media on the blog before (see my social media and privacy tags for my musings through the years). At times, I’ve felt like there’s something wrong with me because I feel like I just can’t handle social media sometimes. Instagram is impactful in particular—although Facebook and Reddit aren’t blameless either.
That was before I learned that social media was designed to be addictive. It’s not the same as reading BBC News or checking your favorite blog for a new post. With static longform content, you read it and you’re done for the day/week/whatever period of time. But when you play the lottery of social media, anything could happen at any time, which is what keeps you coming back for more.
Anyways, let’s get into the reasons I left Instagram.
Why I Left Instagram
- Mental health. I got my first Instagram account in 2012, right before I applied to Carleton. In college I made another one that I used primarily for blog-related content (RIP my old blogs, gal in bloom and My Pink & Green Life). During my senior year, I took a break from blogging and mostly from social media. When I started blogging again, I created my most recent account, @justtoclaireifyblog.
It’s wild how much Instagram has changed since its inception. I originally loved the platform because I liked the casual peeks into people’s everyday lives. At the time, knowing what someone ate for dinner last night or where they went for a walk this morning felt novel and fun. It made me feel more connected to people.
The vast majority of changes since then—getting rid of the chronological feed, adding the explore tab, an ever-increasing amount of ads, and Stories—have made it an increasingly mentally taxing experience, no longer fun and lighthearted. Let’s not even get into how radicalizing it was during the pandemic. Everything is so staged, sponsored, and styled to high heaven now that I just can’t relate.
Last year, I realized every time I opened the app, I left it feeling worse about myself and my life. So I deleted the app and only logged in every few days on a browser. But even then, I felt worse when I logged out. So why was I even still there?
- I don’t support censorship. I didn’t like it during the pandemic and I don’t like it now. (Lest you try to figure out from that statement if I’m a Democrat or Republican, the answer is neither). I don’t want tech companies’ profit margins to shape my worldview. I don’t want to live in an echo chamber. And I never liked the idea of sharing our data for free to gain some Internet clout.
- The example I set for my kids. I read The Anxious Generation last year. And it made me realize I would have to lead by example. How can I tell my kids in the future that they can’t have smartphones or social media profiles until mid-teenagehood if I had my nose buried in mine for at least a couple of hours a day? And even if I managed to keep them offline until 14, 16, 18, how would they behave once they left home? I want them to lead fulfilling lives offline, so I need to live one and show them how.
Parenthood is refining like that. I pride myself on not being the type to eat chocolate in secret. My kids and I always share, and that helps keep my own intake moderate. I don’t feel comfortable treating personal technology differently. That would make me a hypocrite, no? And once we realize how much social media affects us as adults, it’s scary to think about how much more it must affect a developing mind.
What I’m Not Looking Forward To
I’m connected to or have found a way to connect with friends, family and most influencers outside of Instagram, so that’s actually not going to be an issue.
Honestly? Being the weirdo without Instagram is what I least look forward to. 😛 It’s hard to go against the grain, no? When I had my first at 24, I didn’t expect to feel like such a baby next to the other moms in my suburb. I felt like I stuck out like a sore thumb. Now that I’m onto the next decade of life, I care less about that. If someone doesn’t like me for my age… well, what can I do? But leaving social media–that’s a more conscious choice to be weird.
Making a choice like deleting social media almost makes me feel like I am trying to inconvenience other people by eliminating a way to connect with me. And I hate inconveniencing others, good Midwesterner than I am.
But I’m also looking to a life that’s a little more offline. And you’ll always be able to find me here on my own little self-hosted site. JtC isn’t going anywhere 🙂
xx Claire