Social media has always excited yet terrified me. I am considered somewhat of a late-bloomer, since my parents did not allow me to have any accounts until freshman year. Needless to say, I “made up for lost time” and kind of went crazy with it.
What should have been a fun way to interact with friends became an escape from engaging with the real world. I remember one specific night scrolling through the terrifying depths of my explore page until I saw my clock reach 3:00 am. At that moment, I knew that this pastime had grown into an addiction, and I needed to do something. Fast.
I deleted the Instagram app the next day, hoping to reduce my cell phone dependence and become more productive. From my extensive history of failed New Year’s Resolutions, I allowed myself to log in to my account once or twice a day on my Chromebook because quitting cold turkey makes it almost impossible to implement changes to a routine. I have found success with this new adjustment, and would like to highlight some advantages and disadvantages for people contemplating this same choice.
ADVANTAGES
Less Procrastination, More Productivity
I think the most common reason people give up social media is complete assignments quickly, so they can experience less stress and more room in their schedule for fun activities. For the most part, I received this long-sought benefit! Having the app makes it very easy to become distracted, since it’s only one click away. I now find myself more motivated after school to buckle down on my homework and I get much more sleep as a result.
More Satisfied By My Own Idea of Happiness
Instagram introduced me to The Comparison Game within the first 2 minutes on the app. I frequently found myself asking:
“Am I having as much fun as that person?”
“Do I need more friends?”
“If people don’t like my photos, is my life not as interesting?”
It’s a lot of pressure to put on an impressionable teenager! Living up to expectations is exhausting. How are we supposed to discover our true identity, if we are constantly persuaded to align ourselves with society’s unrealistic standards?
While I enjoy being social and spending time with friends, I am naturally introverted and need time to recharge after a long week. It was honestly so unhealthy to watch people going out on Saturday nights and wonder if there was something wrong with me for wanting time alone. Without Instagram, I find myself making more decisions for myself, rather than impressing others.
Meaningful Interactions
During passing periods, it is so easy to sink into your chair once you get to class and do some phone scrolling. However, it’s nice to have a conversation with your table mates! Ask them about their weekend, talk about your recent Netflix obsessions, share a funny experience you had in the hallway. In my opinion, these quick discussions always seem to brighten my mood, and make the next class a lot more fun!
DISADVANTAGES
Dependence on Other Apps
After deleting Instagram, my need for social media just magically disappeared! Lol, who am I kidding? I impulsively downloaded TikTok three days later.
While I have definitely become more productive with this change, procrastination still exists. I’ll scroll through Twitter for a few minutes until the political tweets give me too much of a headache. Maybe I’ll stumble into Facebook, where I’ll study all of the prom dresses in the Senior Private Group or look at pictures of my aunt’s trip to Mexico.
Lost Connections
While we see most of our friends at Naperville North everyday, social media makes it easy to communicate with people who live further away. One of my close friends, Caroline is from Philadelphia and I haven’t seen her since last summer. We use Instagram to keep up to date on each other’s lives. She also has an amazing photography account, and I love to see what projects she’s working on. Instagram makes it so much easier to maintain these relationships, and we really take this use of social media for granted!
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Overall, I am happy that I deleted Instagram because it provides me a more optimistic outlook and increases my productivity. It took a while to adjust, but it was a very positive choice for my mental health and has strengthened many of my relationships. However, this decision is not the best for everyone, since many people love to be in the loop about their family and friends’s lives. Hopefully, my experience will help you decide if limiting social media usage is a good choice for you and your lifestyle!
Hey Katie! I love this blog post. I have recently been contemplating whether or not I should delete all forms of social media. As you said, social media can be incredibly distracting. Despite the many benefits that it has, our connection with other people may be skewed due to all the texting, dming, and snapping that we do lol. I noticed that I’m the most productive when I mute my phone and refuse to get on it until I finish my homework. After reading this, maybe I’ll try to give up social media and see where that gets me 🙂
P.S When you mention scrolling through Facebook, looking at all of the senior prom dresses I literally screamed lol. I’m guilty of checking Facebook every day for daily updates as well haha
Hey, Katie. Props to your quitting Insta! I myself had quit all forms of social media (not voluntarily) quite a while ago. I immediately connected with the “Dependance on Other Apps” as, in lieu of social media, I became a Youtube junkie. Every free moment in school, you can see me on my phone or Chromebook, looking at youtube videos. So….that’s a rabbit hole that I am dependent on nowadays. If you wanna know more, check out my series on “How I survived without social media for 3 years”
http://nnhswordpress.naperville203.org/vsunil/2020/02/21/how-i-survived-without-social-media-for-3-years-youtubers-edition/
That being said,I hope you didn’t just do the touristy stuff in New Yawk. Did you visit any other borough other than Manhattan? Did you try a slice of Joe’s Pizza? Did you visit Flushing? Did you go to Bronx Zoo? Yankees Stadium? Brooklyn Bridge?
Katie, I loved your post! Whether or not to delete my social media has been a question I’ve asked myself on and off for a while now. I never could definitively list the pros & cons for myself, but your post was super helpful with that. Now, I don’t think I could give up Instagram, but I do use Screen Time to help me be more mindful of how much time I spend on social media. I have daily limits set for different apps (mostly Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, etc.) and I’ll get a notification when I have 5 minutes left. Then, the app becomes “locked,” but I can always ignore the Screen Time limit for another 15 minutes or for a whole day if I’m extremely bored. Maybe if you ever decide to get Instagram in the future, you can consider using Screen Time!