How I Knew I Needed to Quit Instagram

HOW MANY ‘LIKES’ CAN JESUS GET ON DEC. 25? –

Oct. 1, 2021 – I started using Instagram in 2013, to post about getting sober, and it was a love-hate relationship from the beginning. But it always felt like the benefits outweighed the costs. I made connections with people I’d have otherwise never met, many of whom became great friends and invaluable business colleagues. I found community and accountability when I so desperately needed it in the wobbly days of early sobriety, and I had a place to consistently share my work. I had built “a platform” in publishing-world speak — a sizable audience with blue-check verified accounts — which enabled me to switch careers from advertising to writing in 2016, and secure my first book deal in 2018.

Over time, however, I noticed that Instagram was invading every part of my day. Checking the app was the first thing I did in the morning and the last thing I did at night. According to my iPhone usage report, I was spending up to six hours a day on the app ingesting thousands of images, reading hundreds of comments and messages, and comparing myself to countless other people. When all that time online left me overwhelmed, anxious and burned out (which was often), I convinced myself I had to stay for my career. Without Instagram to promote my work, I wasn’t sure I could actually make a living. I worried that if I didn’t consistently appear in people’s feeds, I’d become irrelevant.