#29 on my 60before60 list is to delete my instagram account.
I have a really conflicted relationship with instagram. I adore taking photos and I adore seeing other people’s photos and keeping up with what they’re up to – and I like the exposure that I get to non-english-speaking people’s lives in a way that I wouldn’t get from blogs.
I’ve also found great things that I otherwise wouldn’t have – this fabulous sirius print, some excellent books and the architecture model museum in Tokyo (which I think was my favourite – the post serendipitously appeared on instagram while we were in Tokyo enabling us to immediately visit).
But, and it is a big but, I really can’t moderate my use of it. I think it has to do with that addictive personality thing. I’m terrible at moderation (see also, drinking, chocolate) and am best to just not tempt myself at all. And it isn’t like I’ve not tried – I’ve given myself breaks here and there and come back with intentions to limit my use – and then I’m quickly back to the *heart* | scroll | *heart* | scroll – for hours each day. HOURS! I realise the platform is designed to keep me on there for maximum time but I am pretty much helpless in the face of that – my limited stores of willpower being used for other things.
There are also some things I loathe: that around every 5th post is now an advertisement and the non-chronological timeline which means it can be up to a week before a post is shown to me – despite me being on there for hours (HOURS!) every day.
There are several downsides to quitting the platform – many of my Imaginary Internet Friends have long given up blogging and are now only on instagram and so I miss a whole lot of their lives; and I miss out on cool *things*.
I could try to drastically reduce the number of people I follow – but I suspect that would do nothing to reduce the hours (HOURS!) each day I’m spending there. Are those hours (HOURS!) adding value to my life? They really aren’t. I could also individually visit my favourite accounts via a browser on my desktop – which may (big emphasis on may) give me some way to control my habit and keep up with the people I like. The browser option has the benefit of not serving up the endless adverts, so maybe I could just do that?
Will report back!
xxx
Way too many photos of my holiday coffees that I would have likely posted to instagram. Back to work tomorrow – I am very much not looking forward to it, but hey – only two weeks until the Xmas break.
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