i stopped using instagram for a while – here’s what changed and what i missed

the first thing i noticed after stopping instagram was how much i was missing out on memes and what was happening around me.

i met one of my friends after around 4 to 6 months, and he was showing me so many memes. i didn’t know any of them.

he was like:

“what happened to you da?” 😂

missing the reels with friends

we usually have a set of friends with whom we constantly share reels, right?

you’ll see a reel and immediately think, “this is exactly for him.”

and there are some reels that you know are perfect for another friend.

we share these reels with each other, put some of them on our stories, and people who follow us might react to them. sometimes, that reaction even starts a new conversation.

when i stopped using instagram, all of that stopped as well.

i definitely missed that part.

but i avoided a lot of negativity

one good thing that happened was that i avoided a lot of negativity.

sometimes i’d open instagram just to relax and then wonder:

why are these people fighting so much on social media?

cinema fans, cricket fans, football fans… seriously, there are so many genuine people who enjoy these things without overreacting.

but some people take it to another level.

they create posts and videos just to attack someone they don’t like, and sometimes it feels like they’re just vomiting their anger and grudges all over social media.

i’m already dealing with enough problems in my own life.

i’d come to instagram thinking i’d relax for a few minutes, and then i’d see people fighting like hell over something that doesn’t even affect their lives.

at that point, i’d think:

“what’s the point of coming to instagram?”

i’ve tried uninstalling instagram before

that’s when i started thinking about uninstalling instagram and seeing how it felt.

but i’d already tried this two or three times before.

i’d uninstall it, stay away for a while, and then install it again.

my friends even used to joke:

“this is what he’ll do every time.”

but this time, i actually stuck with it.

it’s been almost 5 months now, or maybe even longer. honestly, i haven’t kept track of the exact number of days.

i’m not using instagram.

sometimes my wife shows me a reel, and that’s pretty much the only time i see instagram content now.

the first few days were difficult

initially, it was hard.

before, whenever we’d post something, we’d constantly refresh the page to see how many likes we got and whether anyone had commented.

we’d post reels and then check:

“are we trending?”

we’d find a song that matched a particular situation, make a reel, post it, and then keep checking how many people liked it and who viewed our story.

sometimes we’d even choose a song just because it was trending, edit some footage around it, and post it.

all of that stopped.

my sleep also changed a little

i wouldn’t say my sleep suddenly became perfect after uninstalling instagram.

but there was one habit i noticed.

when i couldn’t sleep at night, i’d open instagram thinking:

“i’ll just watch for 10 minutes.”

but somehow, those 10 minutes would easily become 30 minutes.

sometimes even more.

now, if i can’t sleep, i’ll sometimes listen to a few songs and try to fall asleep.

another thing i sometimes do is count backwards from 100.

and if that doesn’t work, i’ll just stare at the wall.

most probably, i’ll fall asleep after that. 😂

recently, i’ve been able to fall asleep more easily without looking at instagram before bed.

this helped me, but i’m not saying it’ll work for everyone.

am i spending my time more wisely?

kinda okay.

i wouldn’t say that my life suddenly changed dramatically after uninstalling instagram.

i’m still spending time on my phone. i’m still wasting time sometimes. and i haven’t suddenly become the most productive person in the world.

for me, this was more of an experiment.

i wanted to see what would happen if i completely stopped using instagram for a while.

and it worked for me.

i noticed that i stopped checking likes and comments, stopped refreshing notifications, avoided a lot of unnecessary negativity, and got some of my attention back.

should you try it?

if you feel like instagram is taking too much of your time, maybe try a small experiment.

don’t think about quitting forever.

just try 7 days without instagram.

see how you feel.

if 7 days feels good, try another week.

if you hate it and want to come back, that’s fine too.

there’s no rule saying you have to completely quit social media.

i just wanted to see what would happen if i removed one app from my daily routine.

for me, it was worth trying.

but here’s the interesting part

i work in marketing, so completely staying away from instagram isn’t practical for me.

i still need to understand what’s happening on the platform, what people are watching, what’s trending, and how content is being created.

so i’m planning to experiment with using instagram differently in the future.

not for consumption, but for content creation.

maybe i’ll do it.

maybe i won’t.

i don’t know yet.

but that’s another experiment for another day.