063 • Slowly healing my relationship with social media
063 • Slowly healing my relationship with social media
I ‘quit’ Instagram a bit more than a year ago.
What actually happened - I deleted one of two accounts I had (it was the personal one I was addicted to completely).
After a prolonged break (around six months), I came back to using the secondary one, promoting my photography and being careful to stay away from excessive personal use.
Long story short, I’m still on Instagram. However, the hiatus was necessary to reset how I approached my use of the platform. These changes are what the issue is going to be about today...
My account deletion story
Before finally freeing myself, I’d been trying to delete the account I was using, without much luck.
You see, they keep your account active for 30 days after you request deletion, meaning all you have to do is log in and it’s back. This also resets any progress you made into the 30-day deletion window.
There’s a piece I wrote more about the technical details of how I forced myself to stay away from the app for the first 30 days that I’ll share below. After this, the following five months were easy, and I was in control of whether I was going to introduce the platform back into my life.
(Read the piece I wrote about deleting Instagram here - https://medium.com/@theostowell/how-i-finally-cured-instagram-addiction-by-deleting-the-app-for-good-ee719e597d9f)
Let’s say before the account was deleted I was in a bit of a rut - soon after, though, I connected with a group of people who remain good friends to this day.
It’s funny how that happens. Give yourself more room to think and behave and the right people to interact with just appear.
Anyway, after realising everything I did seemed destined for success now I was less sidetracked by Instagram, I chose to put more effort into online writing and teaching.
I found more mental space to put PARAZETTEL together - it was this summer I started to help people with their productivity and knowledge management at a greater scale.
I doubt it would have been as well received if I didn’t commit as deeply to the mission and I’m very grateful for how things have turned out. It's probably not the only thing that helped but taking an extended break from Instagram certainly made this easier.
Now, seeing as it’s a year on, I thought I’d talk about how I managed to re-integrate social media into my life at a more sustainable level than a year ago...
Re-integrating social media
I’m back on Instagram and I’ve got methods that I use for guarding my attention, which I wrote about before I went to hospital, which you can read at the link below…
https://fundamentalised.com/060-protect-your-attention-and-focus-at-all-costs/
One thing that Instagram hasn’t got any worse at is showing content that’s designed to be the most hijacking for your focus.
Unless you’re someone who has a superb life happening 24 hours a day, seven days a week, you’re going to get urges to distract yourself with a bit of scrolling now and again.
That’s why you need at least a small level of artificial blocking to limit you from going on apps. It’s what I’ve resorted to with all of my social media use, going with Refocus and Cold Turkey to keep my use of social media to a limit.
These apps are a double-sided sword. I don’t want to be offline completely because I know the benefit of being able to put your work in front of people at no cost and find people who resonate with it.
Seeing as I didn’t want this, I had to limit my use. But in the long run, I want to be able to do things without having to be removed from social media by another app, of course.
This requires building your life up to where your daily routine is more appealing than spending time on your screens. And this takes time and commitment. It’s hard to stay wholly relaxed and focused on the job at hand, which is why I currently use a tool to keep me on track.
Some days are better than others and I keep looking at the good days and trying to take them forward. If these digital habits become good enough then I can remove artificial blocks regardless of progress on life goals and lifestyle.
Eventually I’ll get there. It’s my mind that I have to control, not my social media access.
It’s a never-ending battle but it does get easier with the right intentions. Look to use these platforms to your advantage and keep them away when you’re looking for a distraction.
Read the sentence above again. It's the simplest way forward.
-- Theo
Last week's issue (video cut)...
I think I'm going to start doing a little breakdown of the video issues underneath them too. More tracking my improvement in recording videos rather than telling you what went on. You'll have to watch for that...
This week's video was dragged out a little bit - I'm still not thinking at 100% after my head injury. I'll get there though. Watch this space, I'll be great at these when I get to a year of consistent recording.
What I published this week...
Obsidian Are Improving Their Mobile App - Another insight into how my mobile use of Obsidian is progressing, as well as the changes that the team have been putting in place recently.
Hey Theo, of all the social apps I struggle with IG the most in terms of being jealous of others, so I reduced my usage there significantly. It's really hard to escape the clutches of the infinite scroll, etc. I wish you the best in finding the balance!