I'm an Instagram addict - here's what happened when I quit Instagram for 1 week

By Day Three, I had thankfully calmed down and ran to Amazon Prime to solve my "what to do" woes.

After putting it off for a solid year, I bought "Rich People Problems," the third and final installment in Kevin Kwan's famed "Crazy Rich Asians" trilogy. Book in hand, my commute flew by, and I quickly realized that I'd been neglected a hobby I find not only relaxing but also rewarding, thanks to my overzealous social media consumption.

Note to self: Focus more on acquiring a library membership and less on building up my following.

On top of my social media addiction, I also have an online shopping problem. And Instagram's algorithm knows just how to sucker me into spending money.

Week after week, I'm urged into buying beautiful but unnecessary shoes, makeup, and clothing because they pop up on my feed through sponsored posts. Brands I've never even heard of quickly become must-haves for my shopaholic self. In all honesty, I probably purchase two to three items per month just from things I find on Insta.

But during my Instagram-less week, my hardcore shopping habit vanished. My husband and my wallet were happy, and I didn't acquire yet another miracle-working moisturizer that I use once before pawning it off to a friend.

Once the cord was cut and I wasn't constantly clicking on that cute and colorful camera icon, I felt calm. Oddly calm.

Maybe seeing my friends, colleagues, and former classmates looking their best, doing their best, being their best, at all hours of the day, was actually making me feel a little bit blue. Sure, I was happy they were vacationing in the Maldives, but why wasn't I vacationing in the Maldives?

My time spent reading or talking IRL worked wonders on my sanity and stress.

My biggest and more important takeaway was that life lives on whether you capture it in a photo or not.

Who cares how many likes I get on my picture of the Northern Lights if taking that pic meant I spent less time experiencing them first hand?

Food for thought — in a week from now will you remember or care about how many likes your picture got or how many swoon-worthy photos you saw on your feed? No. Put the phone away for a short seven days and see just how much you missed it. I'll bet it's less than you think.