Breaking Free from Instagram Addiction: A Guide to Detoxing
Instagram has become a permanent fixture in our lives. The habit of liking, commenting, and scrolling has become so ingrained in our lives that some people check their Instagram feed before getting out of bed in the morning.
This means they begin their days bombarded by pixels and overloaded with information, which is not a good way to begin the day.
There has been a phenomenon known as doom scrolling since the pandemic, and possibly before.
Doom scrolling, according to Wikipedia, is the act of spending an excessive amount of time reading large amounts of negative news online.
According to a 2019 study, this has been directly linked to a decline in physical and mental health.
It is therefore advisable to take a break from Instagram now and then. Most people, however, are perplexed by this; if I’m not scrolling, what am I doing?
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If one of your New Year’s resolutions for 2023 is to spend less time on social media, these tips will come in handy.
Breaking Free from Instagram Addiction: A Guide to Detoxing
Install a timer app.
A thousand-mile journey begins with a single step. The key to spending less time on Instagram is to train yourself to spend less time on the app’s screen. There are numerous apps available in the Apple App Store and Google Play Store that effectively lock you out of Instagram for a set number of hours per day.
Some even ask you to write down what you plan to do with that time instead. You can begin with a short time limit, such as half an hour, and gradually increase it until you reach your goal. This necessitates active and conscious effort as well as willpower.
Consider Pinterest.
Pinterest was described as “media without the social” in a tweet, and that is the most accurate description of the app. On Pinterest, you can find ideas for almost anything: how to decorate your room, fashion advice, music recommendations, and so on. Without the addictive barrier of dealing with comments, one can create mood boards of dream houses, photoshoot ideas, or even DIY projects to try. This will provide you with an active goal to strive for.
Take up a new hobby.
The first thing most people think when they see this suggestion is, what if I am not into hands-on hobbies like cooking, crocheting, and working with hair?
There are several ways to skin a cat, or in this case, to stimulate the release of dopamine, the pleasure hormone. Harvard and MIT, for example, provide free online courses in psychology, sociology, history, and computer science (think simple coding). Coursera and other similar websites also provide free short courses that you can take advantage of. Keep yourself busy while you’re learning new skills.
Get away from the house.
Although this appears to be an obvious solution, it is rarely, if ever, that simple. Going out alone can cause anxiety for some people while finding someone to go out with can be stressful. This creates a lose-lose situation in which they decide to stay inside and scroll instead.
The key to going out by yourself is to romanticize every second of your time outside. Take a moment to take in the sights and sounds around you, make up stories about the people you see, and listen to music. It also helps to go outside at sunrise or sunset to take in the scenery.
Use your brain.
Part of the reason people spend so much time on Instagram is that our collective attention span is decreasing at an alarming rate. According to one study, the current human attention span is seven seconds.
As a result, engaging in activities that actively engage your mind, such as meditation or watching an engaging show, will reduce your reliance on the dopamine rush of short videos and photos on Instagram while increasing your attention span.
Getting your mind in the right frame of mind may not require therapy; simply throw your router out a high window. Sure, it’s an exaggeration, but there’s a kernel of truth there.
In this fast-paced reality we’ve created for ourselves, it’s sometimes best to take a moment to breathe and remember that we exist as living beings, not just consumers of pixels on a three-by-six-point five-inch device.
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