5 things that happened when I logged out of Instagram.
Now before I write this I want to clarify what I mean by being logged out of Instagram. Instagram is a thing that can be absolutely amazing if it’s used well and absolutely horrible if it’s using you.
Wanna test if it’s using you? Log out of your Instagram account tomorrow and see how many times you instinctively get on your phone and open the app with absolutely no reason why. For me this was several times a day. I’d go to check a text message and then somehow end up scrolling. I’d be responding to a client email, go to IG to check the spelling of their name and then end up scrolling for 15 minutes. Let’s admit it, we’ve all been there. At least all of us who are reading this. This year I decided this was no longer going to be me.
So starting January 1st I logged out. I made the choice to use Instagram intentionally, meaning if I was on there I knew in advance what I was posting, who I was messaging and I’d do those things and then log back out. Sure, for some it’d probably be easy to log out entirely but where I run a few different businesses I am required to respond to messages daily to keep things running smoothly. However by being logged out I wasn’t just spending countless hours scrolling through other peoples lives and businesses and guess what happened!?
I HAD MORE HOURS IN A DAY
Time is the most valuable thing you have in life and yet it’s the only thing money can’t buy. However, by being intentional in the ways that you’re using your time it’s almost as if you’re buying it. Buying it back from social media. Buying it back from those who only take and don’t give. Buying it back from the silly nonsense that we absorb on a daily basis by not being intentional. By being intentional with your time you will have more of it to do the things you want to or need to. For me personally instead of spending countless hours worrying about what others were doing with their lives I was able to spend that time on improving mine. Spending more quality time with my husband and kids. Working out more. Doing my homework before it was due. Checking in on my clients and researching how I can better build my businesses.
MY FRIENDSHIPS IMPROVED
A lot of times it’s easy to feel like because you’re posting your life onto Facebook or Snapchat or Instagram or Tik Tok or whatever other online platform you use that people should just automatically watch it and be filled in about your life. I mean it’s 2020. That’s why they call it social media right!? Here’s the problem with that mindset. A: not everyone is willing to share their lives with the World Wide Web, B: It’s really hard to read each post as it was intended. Meaning you could see a friends post with their sweet new baby and think they are on cloud 9 when realistically if you don’t call them and have a real private and authentic convo you may have no idea that they’re actually really struggling and need love and support more than ever. There’s nothing better than a real life face to face conversation that is so often replaced by FaceTime or snap chat these days. By logging out of IG it gave me more time to call friends or grab a quick lunch. I even booked three trips in those two weeks to see family, friends, and even an exciting weekend trip to meet new friends!
MY ANXIETY LESSENED
Social media has been clinically proven to increase anxiety. I’ve known this. I’ve read the reports and even some medical journals that explain it. Until this week I never realized it was affecting me too. Between the bright lights, the noises, the constant worrying about other people’s lives, the comparison game, everything combined basically it just puts your brain on overload. So spending 14 days using it in a controlled way instead of letting it use me I noticed I was less anxious and more calm and content.
MY HEALTH IMPROVED
For the past few years I’ve been making a million and one excuses why I can’t workout. Some were more valid than others. The only one that was ever actually valid was that I didn’t have enough time. What I didn’t realize was if I just made the time, I’d have it, just like I had time for everything else. So in the past two weeks I’ve exercised more than I have in the past two months combined. Almost twice a day everyday for the past 10 days. I started fun competitions with friends to keep me motivated. I shared with family and friends my mental and physical goals for the year. Most importantly for the first time ever it felt like my goals were actually realistic because I could accomplish them with the new time I had.
I WAS MORE PRESENT
This has been a goal of mine, like real wrote down goal for the past two years. Being present is one of the hardest things for me to do. In a world where we are trained day in and day out to constantly multitask it’s almost as if there should be class in school on being present. However by cutting out the distractions it was almost as if it just started happening. I noticed down on the floor playing ice cream shop with my kids. I had that random two hour conversation with my friend across the country. I didn’t fall asleep at night scrolling through emails and and client messages, but instead with my husband spooning me telling me about his day. We all know things like this are constantly bombarded by technology. I no way am I saying I was like Deepak Chopra or anything, but I was there, more than I had been in a long time.
Note: in addition to logging out of Instagram I also turned off all notifications on my phone. Texts, emails, shopping apps, useless watch reminders, you name it, everything except the ring on old school phone calls was turned off.
If you have an iPhone this is easy to do through 1. Settings 2. Notifications 3. Going through each app and turning off push notifications.
I then turned ON notifications for my favorite Instagram accounts so I didn’t have FOMO.
This is also easy to do. 1.Go to the profile of the person you’re wanting to set it up for. 2. Click on the follow button 3. Click on notifications and it will drop down a menu to click to enable story notifications, posts, or even live videos. ( you can also choose mute in this menu to not see people’s posts or stories for a while without unfollowing them)
If you liked these tips click the save button above (looks like a bookmark) to come back and re read this when you need the reminder.
Or if you think someone else would like to read this click the paper airplane and send it directly to them.
Most of all, go log into your life!
Cheers to you in 2020!
XO Kaibree