The actual achievement doesn’t really change your life, like you think it might, but what you’re left with is the journey that got you to that point.” Before he’s about to do one of the biggest climbs of his life he says during an interview “It’s kind of funny. But there’s one point in particular I keep playing over in my mind.
#Take a break from instagram free#
Without giving too much away, it follows the journey of free solo climber Marc-André Leclerc. I watched an incredible film over the break called The Alpinist. But as the days went on it became pretty clear that the answer is no. Maybe I’d enjoy it if there wasn’t the added pressure of doing it for work. I asked myself the following question during my break “if Instagram wasn’t responsible for a large part of my financial livelihood would I still be there?” At first I wasn’t sure, maybe I would still go on. In order to win at Instagram you have to play by their rules, which are ever-changing, but the number one rule is don’t leave. The more breaks I took from Instagram in 2021, the more I saw my following dwindle and my engagement tank. Play the game and get rewarded, but at what cost? As more brands spend their advertising money on Instagram, creatives are pushed to spend more time there. While I’ve chartered my own path in many ways I’ve also subscribed to the formula so many writers and creatives find themselves trapped in. The last year made it drastically apparent. My self worth and my actual financial worth are deeply intertwined with the app. It’s not necessarily something I just realized but the break made it feel all too clear. And that leads me to the third thing I learned. As the days went on I found myself needing it less but Instagram would pop into my email inbox reminding me of the unread messages, likes, comments and new followers I was missing out on.
Like I was on autopilot, a robot needing my fix. I spent the first few days of my Instagram break picking up my phone and searching for the app. To keep us there, to give us that hit of dopamine so we keep going back for more. This technology, these apps, they’re made to be addictive. I’ve lied to myself thinking I could set boundaries, make rules for myself, somehow beat the system.
And that leads me to my second realization. I didn’t want to go back but I did anyway. And I felt myself wasting away my morning as I scrolled through my feed and tapped through stories watching recaps of 2021, NYE celebrations and general highlights of people’s lives. I mindlessly scrolled through realizing how much I didn’t miss it. When I finally downloaded the app again and opened it this morning I didn’t feel good about it. I spent the last few days leading up to when I would go back on with a feeling of dread. I barely scratched the surface of what my mind needed. What I Learned From My Instagram Breakįirst, two weeks is not enough. Here’s what I learned from two weeks away, if you took a break as well, let me know how it went. At the beginning of 2021 I set out to create clear boundaries with how I used the app, and in some ways it helped, but as the year went on they started to fade, along with my creativity and mental clarity. I needed a break to reset and hopefully find some clarity. As many of you know I took just shy of two weeks off Instagram at the end of 2021.
0 kommentar(er)
