Check out this viral video: Social Media vs. Reality
We’ve all done it. Spent hours on Instagram mindlessly scrolling through your feed. Posted a picture and refreshed it endlessly to see the amount of likes you get. Compared yourself to attractive, successful people doing cooler things than you. Thought about a caption for way longer than you probably should have.
It’s an unrelenting, sometimes even dangerous, epidemic sweeping across Millennials today. We’re always on our phone. We can’t help it. Everyone’s on Instagram. We want to share our experiences, we want to connect with others, we want to feel liked.
And this is totally normal.
But the more we refresh, like, and post, the more we invest our happiness into something as fleeting and trivial as Instagram.
We contort our real lives into a highlight reel that showcases our most perfect, staged, beautiful moments. We show it off casually like it’s our everyday life, but in reality, they’re well-thought-out moments we’ve planned in our heads to satisfy this portrayal of a perfect person we want everyone to see.
That’s why taking a break from the most addicting social media app, Instagram, can do wonders for your mental health, self esteem, and overall happiness.
After all, the saying goes, “life is what happens between wifi signals.”
Here are 5 things that happen after you delete Instagram:
1. You stop comparing yourself. You stop being so hard on yourself, because you’re not constantly reminded of other people’s success, accomplishments, or fun things they’re doing. You’re focused on yourself and the totally worthy, everyday things you’re doing instead of someone else’s once-in-a-while cool moment.
2. You stop missing out on experiences while you’re on your phone. 38% of people have missed out on a life moment while busy looking on their phone (OnePoll, 2016). People spend so many dinners, dates, or night outs checking their phones. They spend so much time connecting with the people through their phones, they forget about the human connections right next to them.
3. You become more productive, especially in the mornings. You don’t lie in bed for 10 minutes after your alarm goes off checking your Instagram until you reach the last familiar post, which is usually “7 hours ago.” The start of the day is so important. It sets the tone for how the rest of your day is going to go. Without Instagram, you don’t start your morning comparing yourself to people and everything you missed while you were asleep.
4. You are where your feet are. You start being more present. You look around more. You see how rich the colors of the sunset actually is, because you’re not looking at it through a camera. You do more things that make you forget to check your phone. AND you don’t feel the need to document it for validation that you are doing something cool. In fact, 41% of people choose vacation locations based on what would look good on social media (OnePoll, 2016). By disconnecting, you stop worrying about what pictures and captions to post, because you’re here and you’re alive and this moment is more precious than you think.
5. You stop caring about what people think about you. This one’s a hard one. And it doesn’t happen overnight. It happens over time, when you slowly start realizing you are much more important and valuable than a number or statistic on your social media account. The real you is so much better than the Instagram you.
As always, it’s easier said than done. Instagram is still such an incredible way to connect with the people around you (if you don’t let it influence you too much). But, if you ever feel like taking a break, I promise your future self will thank you. Check out 5 Ways You Can Disconnect to Reconnect for tips for weaning off social media.