Use Instagram wisely and save your time. That’s what I did.

Last summer, my wife and I were at our favourite restaurant in my home town. We went there the first time she visited my parents, and since then, we have gone there every year. It is a chique restaurant with Jazz music in the background, low light and candles on the table, where intimate dinners occur, and dining companions speak softly.

A young couple arrived a time later, sitting next to us. While chatting with my wife, my eyes fell on them in the middle of the dinner. In front of me, a sad scene: both of them staring at their phone like two strangers in a waiting room.

That brought to my mind when my wife told me, friendly but firm, not to use my phone at the table. It is not pleasant being with somebody while the other person is staring at her phone.

She was right, of course. Since then, we have had a rule: no phone on the table. It is allowed only to look at Wikipedia to resolve a dispute about some argument and to see who is right.

I notice scenes like that everywhere: on the bus, at lunch with colleagues, people miss their train stop because they are distracted by their phone’s screen.

Bent on the screen like modern Gollum chers the ring. The thumb is the only muscle moving, like a marathon runner, moving constantly at the same pace, running without a destination and nowhere to go.

I found myself being that Gollum. My right thumb is that runner. So, I decided to take a sabbatical month from Instagram.

Photo by Rasheed Kemy on Unsplash

The first step in any problem is to recognise it; the second is to tackle and fix it.

My phone, an Android phone, has a nice feature called “Digital wellbeing”. This app lets you set a time limit for using an app. I set 30 minutes max per day for Instagram and Facebook.

It works well. When the time expires, the icon becomes grey, and you cannot open it until the next day. Anyway, it is not enough. You must be very motivated and incorruptible in resisting the temptation to change the settings and increase the timer. If you are scrolling, and time has expired, you think, “I need just five minutes”. Like a kid when mom tells her to turn off the telly. You are watching some interesting reel, and the time expired. Then another 10 minutes. And so on, until you set your time to two hours and forget about that. That’s what exactly happened to me. I needed something more compelling.

A while ago, I read “Atomic Habits”. In his book, James Clear describes ways to erase bad habits and add good ones. Habits to gain “good” behaviour and to stop doing the “bad” one.

Changing behaviour takes work and time. One of the core actions described in the book is to create the proper environment without temptation; small steps are needed to achieve your goal. Changing behaviour is hard when that is right next to you. For instance, you don’t want to be distracted by your phone while working. Well, just put the phone away from your desk, in another room. So, I removed the app. Instagram was not there anymore, but its big brother, Facebook, was still around.

I haven’t been a Facebook user for a while; I didn’t read other people’s posts, as I didn’t look at people’s reels. Why do I need to know that you ate pizza last evening? Why should I look at the picture of the book you bought it?

I like craftsmanship, so I mostly watch Facebook’s reels, watches repairing, timberland cutting and putting together pieces of wood and any reparations. Another day, the other 30 minutes gone. I removed Facebook with no pity.

Photo by Brett Jordan on Unsplash

My phone was, then, social-free.

I struggled for a couple of weeks. I unlocked my phone and browsed between the apps, looking for something to do, eventually locking the phone again. What am I going to do now? I felt lost. A desperate Gollum who lost his ring. Actually, not so bad. Now I had time, the time I took away from infinite scrolling.

How much time? I had about more than one hour then. One hour is free per day, so assuming one year is 15 days. I gained roughly two weeks per year! These days, the value of time is underrated. Everything and everybody runs, probably with no destination, forgetting about the journey. I wanted to use my time wisely; that was my new ring to preserve — time to relax and do things I like. No waste.

Going to the toilet is more than exercise and physiological needs for most of us. A moment where we can stay alone with ourselves, where we slow down, while outside everything is running. That kind of place where you can get asylum from other people. A safe place. We must also admit that we spend way more time in the toilet with our phones than is needed. Nevertheless, the first thing I did was, in the morning, to stop bringing the phone with me to the toilet. I started to get a book and read for no more than 10 minutes. Eventually, I read two books simultaneously, one in the bathroom and the other while commuting.

Photo by Luke Stackpoole on Unsplash

I have had a Reddit account for a long time. I seldom used it until I moved away from Instagram. I appreciate Reddit, where I find many exciting things and information. I spend my time mostly on Subreddits like /jazz and /audiophiles to broaden my knowledge of Jazz music and artists and share ideas with interesting people.

The same for Reddit happens with YouTube. While cooking or lying on the sofa, I am used to watching YouTube videos. Plenty of good quality channels, from history to philosophy, pass by woodworking and any other tutorial. Due to the platform’s nature, YouTube videos are, on average, longer than a 14-second to 30-second reel. The creator has to put more effort into the quality of the video (compared to the shorter video on Instagram). YouTube is an infinite resource to learn about everything.

Two years ago, YouTube introduced Shorts, the YouTube reels. It seems like another black hole ready to absorb anything walking on the threshold. Luckily, Short didn’t significantly affect me; I admit that sometimes I get lost, spending some minutes scrolling through Short. Again, due to the nature of the platform, they don’t have the same effect as Instagram reels, at least for me.

After a while, I realized I was utterly Instagram-immune.

Giving up Instagram and Facebook was not easy. It was a long journey. I wanted a sabbath month. It ended up in rare access by my laptop. Ultimately, it was worth at least one hour more per day.

Self-claimed influencers with fake followers. Pages repeat and copy themselves. The exact sketch played tons of times on different pages. People show off (and mostly fake) a billionaire life. Hundreds of millions of pictures look the same (look at fantastic project insta_repeat ). All that is Instagram. That’s the truth for all the social media.

Great photographer shares their job, inspiring young artists. Philosophers bring philosophy to people who never thought get passionate about that. Instagram pages reviewing books. Pages tell history through pictures ( look at historyphotographed) or just by telling history (history_alice). Pages showing maps illustrating the world in any dimension (mapsareweapons). If you like urbex, visit abandoned place ascosi_lasciti does it for you. And there is more. Plenty of Instagram pages have valuable content. Instagram and social media can also be that.

Nevertheless, It can be very addictive. Whether you look at funny kitty or are interested only in educational pages, we know Instagram makes you addicted. I don’t want to blame Instagram, although it has been accused of using algorithms to make users addicted. Facebook, YouTube, and TickTock play their role too.

Anything can be used wisely or foolishly. In the case of social media, there is a third option you cannot control: they keep you glued to the screen. I decided to stop it. The scrolling-black hole took too much of my time, giving nearly nothing back. I replaced the Instagram pages I liked with other resources from the same page, like the mailing list, YouTube channel, or website.

Eventually, when I come home from work in the evening, I play with my child, read my book, watch the news, or browse Reddit. Of course, no phone on the dinner table. Anymore.

Thank you for reading, see you soon.