Before I did this experiment, I had been the type of person to scroll through instagram to see each and every post. This filled my down time and I enjoyed seeing the interests of the people that I followed.
In my psychology class, the professor encouraged us to give up an aspect of social media for a week, as proof that we were consumed in our smartphones as the iGeneration. When class ended on Thursday, I had the sudden urge to check Instagram between classes, as I usually do. I held off, luckily, because I was looking over notes last minute for an exam. After the exam was over I had time to delete the app and bid it farewell for at least a week. As the first day went by, I found myself clicking where the app used to be, and opening up “Find My iPhone,” which was the app that took the place of Instagram once I deleted it. I found this somewhat ironic as the iPhone was in my hand, but I felt a little lost for the first few moments Instagram was not there. Until I deleted the app, I was not really aware of how much I really checked it. I thought just here and there, but then I began to realise more and more how much I checked it when I couldn’t. It’s similar to the feeling of having access to something and not wanting to use it versus not having access to something and wanting to use it – and in this scenario it was Instagram.
What I learned is that you don’t have to let social media tell you what is and isn’t important, in this case spending time on Instagram nearly all day. I found that I had more time to focus on academics, especially with finals coming up. While I have since returned to Instagram, I have found myself less online, and more present in daily life through socializing in person. I will say though, it wasn’t easy, but I did find myself at times spending more time on Snapchat and Facebook to fill the void. If I have time I will still stay connected on Instagram, but not to the extent that I was at prior to the experiment.