I am a friend of scrolling on my phone. I could do it for hours. However the algorithm is not content to send me science videos, cute animals and hot people. There is also a good chunk of politics in my social media feeds. Don’t get me wrong, I am very interested in politics and I want to stay informed. But the fun scrolling on my phone quickly turns into doom scrolling with the current political climate all over the world.
I held my phone in front of my face and I knew it was not good for me, but I was really addicted to it and just could not not look at my feed. So in a desperate attempt to free myself I deleted Instagram from my phone. I still have my author as well as my personal account, but they are currently dormant.
I will use my author account for promotion at some point, but only over the desktop app. Because I have observed the following in my now 1,5 month hiatus from Instagram. I read more, I use my phone more for communication rather than consumption, I try to actually text my friends instead of just sending memes.
I do not judge anyone for using Social Media, it is a part of modern life, but I would encourage everyone to take a step back from these rigged dopamine machines we surround ourselves with. I think they have their uses, but they have side effects.