I Quit Instagram for 43 Days
I am a chronic over-sharer. I painstakingly document my day from the time I wake up to the time I go to sleep over Instagram stories. I talk about everything from my struggle with depression, to dating, to my dog. I’ve had weeks-long public meltdowns on the app, and for a time, I was even documenting my bikini waxes-but don’t worry, I quickly grew out of that phase. What I realized, after amassing 25,000 followers, was that the more honest I am about my life, the more popular I am on the app.
People love it when I’m shady about the PR pitches I receive, when I hate an event, or when a guy texts me something insane. But recently, all of this began to feel like a cage. In a typical day, the app would eat up 51 percent of my phone battery after using it for work (I create digital content for a living, so it’s how I get my news and do research), but I was also using it to quell boredom, to stave off sadness-to feel connected to something. Even now, as I sit here typing this, I feel like I need to take a photo of my screen and post it with “COMING SOON” in the fun new fonts that were introduced a few weeks ago. But I can’t do that, because I decided to give up Instagram for Lent.