Does This Bring You Joy? 📱

I’m thinking of quitting Instagram.

I don’t find joy on this platform (either using or creating content) anymore. And spending time there definitely does not align any of my values.

11 years into using this platform as a consumer and creator, I haven’t realised how my sanity and emotional health was decaying:

1. Most sh*t isn’t my business. Your awesome post-pandemic trip, your boss, your new business venture have absolutely nothing to do with me. But they’re all pushed in front of my eyes, competing for the little attention I have left in this technology-driven world. The real problem is everything you take in has an impact on you: it stirs emotions within you, sparks comparison, and changes your worldview.
   
   This is when I realise I need to take my information diet to the next level: instead of unfollowing or muting people, I’m better off quitting.
   
   
2. Vanity metrics. Let’s be really honest here: I’ve been tracking my stats weekly for both my “personal” and professional accounts. This is what I realised: I felt nothing when numbers went up, but I felt some kind of “lack” and “inadequacy” when they went down. I’ve effectively created a rat race for myself when I decided to grow my social media platforms with stories, posts, videos and reels. And I could never catch up with the ever-changing algo. The result of spending 2-3 years trying to grow this platform (mind you, I was very consistent) was clear.

What is it all for?

That said, I’m still grateful that I’ve made tons of Internet friends on this platform. But I firmly believe that friends I care about/who care about me will find other ways to connect.

Recently I’ve also been enjoying watching videos of calisthenics drills or high protein meal prep recipes on Instagram and I’ve benefited a lot from these amazing creators.

Yet, they can’t compensate the disadvantages of staying on the platform.

It sounds insane to even think about “how am I going to survive without Instagram” – like, it’s not air or water, for God’s sake.

It’s more insane realising how much control all those social media platforms have on us.

To give you more context, as a millennial, I grew up with Facebook and Instagram but I moved away from the former years ago (I was convinced that it’s for “old people” lol) and I never used TikTok. See, I have strong opinion on that platform since it goes against my values.

I never felt the FOMO.

After all, quitting Instagram is just like quitting other bad habits/things that don’t serve us anymore, right?

So where do we go from here?

My plan is to create a 9-grid post explaining my intention of getting off this platform and directing target audience to YouTube, newsletter or mental wellbeing quiz.

I’m going to document my journey here in case you want to tag along 🙂

P.S. Of course, I asked AI the 10 pros and cons of quitting Instagram before writing this email. The reasons sound legit, but you can substitute “Instagram” with any other social media platforms really.

If you’re still reading at this point and you’re an avid Instagram user, reply to convince me why i should stay on instagram 🙂