Christine Kopaczewski
- I decided to quit Instagram for one week to see how I would cope without my favorite social media platform.
- I noticed my anxiety and stress increased on the first day without Instagram.
- But by the end of the week, I had saved money, read more, and learned to relax better.
- Here are my biggest takeaways from my Instagram experiment.
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Hi, my name's Christine, and I'm an Instagram addict.
Phew, it feels good to get that off my chest. While I'm no influencer, I really love to Instagram my travels, great food, and memorable times with my friends.
Let's not forget the separate account I run for my puppy (yes, I'm that girl). I also use the platform as a way of staying in touch with my nearest and dearest. I deleted my Facebook account a few years ago and haven't looked back since. Insta DMs and comments suit my connectivity needs just fine.
However, I began to realize just how intense my "hobby" was a few months back when Apple added those lovely recaps of my screen time. Every Sunday I felt my face flush as my report showed that most of my time on my phone was spent on Instagram, rather than something Apple deems "productive."
Feeling judged (you don't know my life, Tim Cook and co.!) and also slightly embarrassed, I decided to challenge myself to a week free from all things Instagram.
Aside from the not-so-gentle reminders from Apple, I was reminded time and time again IRL that my habits had gotten slightly out of control. On vacations, my husband would cringe every time I made him take a photo of me next to a notable landmark. My parents would complain about my attention span or lack thereof, during family dinners and I could hardly sit through a 30-minute TV show (not even "Game of Thrones," mon Dieu!) without checking my phone six times.
Time for a change.
So, for a full week, I deleted Instagram. No more stories, no more puppy pics, no more scrolling for hours on end.
And I noticed a few key things over the course of the week. Here's what happened.
