Leaving Social Media
As the saying goes, “ignorance is bliss”. The meaning of this phrase of proverb is: “if you don’t know about something, you don’t worry about it”. This phrase is accurate as I am living in it; I’m experiencing pure bliss by intentionally being off of social media. And it gets better every day.
Social media isn’t inherently a good or bad thing. It’s a tool. It has no mind of its own, no hidden agenda, no enemies or allies. Just like money is a tool, social media is one as well. However, this specific tool has negative ramifications attached to it if one does not wield it well. Try as I might, I am not someone who can, or wants to, use social media as a tool. The cost of using social media, I’ve realized, is too high for me. The currency is my mental health.
I want to focus on the damage social media has inflicted on me. Or, rather, the damage I’ve inflicted on myself because of my undisciplined use of social media. For context, the only social media I’ve used heavily over the last five years has been Instagram, so for the rest of this post, I will refer to social media as that.
Here are some issues I’ve dealt with while being on Instagram.
Comparison. I speak about it a bit more in depth in this post, but comparison is a killer of joy. As a digital artist, I follow a lot of art accounts on Instagram. These artists are incredible! But you know what? I’m an incredible artist myself! Though, I’ve recently come to this realization (recently meaning in the middle of 2023). Before that point, I would compare my art to other people’s art, wondering why I’m not as skilled or as good as them. I ignored the truth that my art is ALSO good; I’ve been told by many that fact. But it didn’t matter because I didn’t create as well as these other artists I followed. I didn’t have the following they had, therefore, I was not “successful”. This stymied my growth as an artist.
FOMO. The “fear of missing out” is a powerful magnet that kept my eyes glued to my feed. What was going on in the world? What was everyone else doing? My brain desperately wanted to know everything that was happening in my friends’s, and even people perceived as friends’s, lives. I felt if I didn’t pick my phone up to see people were doing, I would miss out on important events, milestones, and other things. This lead to compulsory behavior such as constantly clicking on Instagram, and impulsive behavior like signing up for something I have no genuine desire or need to do.
The desire to be seen. As someone who was ignored and called annoying a lot when I was growing up, this issue is probably the nastiest one I dealt with. That dopamine rush of being seen by people who I want to notice me is potent, let me tell you. I felt significant, and it puffed me up. But I was being inauthentic to myself. I posted what others wanted to see, not what I liked or wanted. I made stories to stay “relevant”. All the while, I was not being true to the man God made me to be, and I was slowly wasting away looking for clout. I didn’t like or love myself.
There are more issues with Instagram, but these are the three that I struggled with the most. I am sure you and others can relate. But I did something about it.
I’ve been off Instagram for the last three months. “Off” meaning I don’t post or scroll because the app is off my phone. I will go on the browser to check my messages once every other week because I have a ton of people sending me memes, which, full disclosure, I just open the message and close it without looking at them because I don’t want to get sucked in. So, while I still have my account, I don’t entertain it.
What can I tell you about how things have changed in my life since intentionally being off Instagram? My mental health has improved drastically! Leaving Instagram, with going to therapy (which I HIGHLY recommend), has been one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. Let’s revisit the issues above and see how I’ve resolved them.
I’m no longer comparing myself to others. Again, my older blog post on comparison goes deeper, but comparison to people’s lives and other artists is near nonexistent. Not much else to say about that.
I don’t care about “missing out”. It’s tough to miss out on things you don’t know about! Being off of social media has made me oblivious to what other people are doing. The people IRL (in real life) I have a deep connection with include me in their lives and plans, so truthfully, I’m not missing out on much.
I’m “insignificant”. This one warrants its own blog post, but this feeling of insignificance is like a weight of my chest. I don’t have to perform for anyone. I don’t have to post to feel seen. It is a magnificent feeling. Not that I’m not significant or unimportant. Far from it, as I am loved by many in the physical realm in which I live. I just don’t have to put on a show for people I don’t even know, and that’s beautiful.
Just like the cons, there are more pros to being off of Instagram, but let me leave you with those. Notice how much shorter in description they are compared to the cons. It’s because they are simple truths and habits which are better than the complex and unnecessary ones the cons bring with them.
To put the bow on this post, one thing I’ve realized that has given me freedom in my mind to focus on creating better works is this phrase I’ve been telling myself daily:
“It is a magical feeling to not know what everyone else is doing.”
Believe me. I have the capacity for more important things in my life now because I’ve been off of Instagram. I’m excited to grow to heights unimaginable because my brain is rewiring itself. And I encourage you to look into leaving social media for a time to experience the pure bliss that comes along with it. While I’m not deleting my Instagram account, I am not posting anything or interacting with anyone. It’ll just be a dormant page, a “sad” shell of its former self. I’ll be living in blissful ignorance of the digital world around me.
And that’s fine by me.