Do you really need to delete Instagram or is it self sabotage?

Claim your sweet spot and then be free. Also, more personal behind the scenes. I went viral. So what?

I’m going to take you behind the scenes. I’m also going to invite you to find and claim your sweet spot with social media, and then stop complaining about it. Less time complaining, more time taking full responsibility for your time, your attention and your creative success.

I have drafted a really long piece about all the things that are so fake and gross about Instagram these days.

I wanted to write the performative friendships where people want to be seen with certain ‘people of social power’— who then go on to be shitty friends in real life because all they care about is their social media image (I know you probably know people like this too).

I wanted to write about how 5 minutes on the gram can plummet your sense of hope, inspiration and train your imagination for doom and gloom. We all know how important it is to guard our minds in this time and yet we still walk ourselves willingly into the ring of fire that is thousands of (often dark and heavy) visual impressions before we’ve had our breakfast.

I wanted to write about how we’ve become literal attention seekers and people are prostituting their personal information online for clicks… going hard on the shock value and sharing things that should remain private and dignified (in my opinion).

I wanted to write about how it makes good people, self indulgent, and how this can really escalate especially for mothers. A simple ‘take a photo for me’ can turn into a life of always documenting everything and more self indulgence than is healthy for a family.

I’m just looking at my notes with dozens more points and realised I could write an entire book on the topic.

We all know that, unless we approach social media with a very sound mind, and stronger than normal discipline, it will make our lives worse.

It will make you dumber.

It will make you more afraid.

It will chew into your creativity.

It will make you tired.

It will cause chronic indecision.

It will perhaps thrash you around emotionally.

It can make you less present for your real life.

We all know it.

Especially on Substack, we all know it. We are Substack snobs over here. Instagram? Yuck. What plebs. I actually enjoy having an attention span, thank you very much. Now where is my oyster fork and vintage Tolstoy.

I go through many seasons where I deeply contemplate whether I want to scrap my IG all together.

I have deactivated it.

I have deleted the app from my phone for several months at a time, numerous times.

I have always done it my way. This means, I haven’t grown super fast or ever really had a strategy. It’s a place of expression, but also very tied to my own moods. I post when I feel like it. I post when I have something to say.

My back isn’t up against the wall in any way. This approach has suited me, truly.

But I’m kinda tired of the extreme thinking. I KNOW that it’s such a relief to throw Instagram in the bin and be free of it. There is definitely a sense of peace that comes from not having the app on your phone at all. I’ve done it many many times.

But also, I don’t want to live as if this stupid little app on my phone is the giant, and I am the grasshopper.

I am the giant. Instagram is the grasshopper.

You know? Let’s get that straight.

I want to be so sturdy in my mind, so disciplined, so in love with my life and aligned with my values that I can use Instagram for 10 mins a day and then leave it in it’s little folder on my phone without a second thought.

I want to be able to post something, engage with my followers for a few mins and then tuck it away until the next surge happens.

I want to be able to have a quick peek at what my friends are up to, without it then ending up in feeling I need a new couch or a new lymph massage for my neck or that my country is burning to the ground and I should move to Panama.

The best strategy might be to scrap Instagram. Or it might be to have your cake and eat it too.

This requires becoming someone who uses IG to their one benefit— for the innocent power of expression and connection and sharing good messages and art, but without becoming a slave to it.