I was reading the story of Heidi to my daughter tonight. For those who are unfamiliar with the beloved children’s tale, it is about a little girl (Heidi) who goes to live with her grandfather in the Alps and how she helps transform everyone she encounters into a better person. While reading, I was struck by how few friends Heidi has – Peter the goat herder and Clara from Frankfurt. And though I know this is a fictional story, it stood as a powerful contrast to the hyper-connected world we live in. And what I have realized is that a hyper-connected world comes at a cost. Well in 2019 I underwent a radical experiment disconnected from Instagram (my primary personal and business social media platform) for over 6 months and it profoundly changed me. What I gained from stepping away from this platform was so helpful, that I thought I would share what happened.
Over the last year my friend, filmmaker Elena Rossini, introduced me to various authors she was reading while researching for her upcoming documentary, The Realists. To start, I learned about Jaron Lanier and his case for deleting all social media accounts, Cal Newport and his philosophy of deep work, and Ben Grosser on how to demetricate social media platforms. The more I learned the more I became curious about the impact social media was having in my life. I had my first taste of “unplugging” in December 2018 when Elena and I instigated a two-week experiment with my Free To Be online community to implement Ben Grosser’s demetricator for Instagram and Facebook. While I continued to use the platforms with the modification (which was helpful), I ended up decreasing my use on the apps. Yet I never fully unplugged.
However, a change happened to me in the spring this year when I decided that instead of trying to achieve specific objectives I would instead try to live by explicit values. After hearing this idea first from Erin Treloar on her Raw Beauty Talks podcast, I set 3 goals in front of me. First, I wanted to do work that was meaningful to me. Second, I wanted to be engaged and present in daily life. And third, I wanted to move my body and be more active. I took these goals seriously. I managed my time and even turned down opportunities if they conflicted with my newly chosen values. Over time I found myself posting less and telling my social media coordinator to do the same. I began to delete Instagram each time after posting to create more friction so that I couldn’t mindlessly (and easily) enter the platform.
At this point, it might be helpful to know my baseline of social media use. Instagram has always been my primary social media platform for both my personal life and business. Prior to May, I was using Instagram 6 days a week and would spend hours over the month creating content for it. I have not struggled with time management on Facebook in many years (though I can get trapped in the endless scroll feature), so I still continued to use it occasionally. The concept of Pinterest causes my blood pressure to rise so I only use it if I absolutely must. And I don’t have Twitter, Snapchat, or TikTok.
By the end of May I had stopped going on Instagram and posting content and I had noticed a substantial shift in myself (more about that below). So, for the next 6 months (aside from 2x where I briefly logged in to intentionally post something) I abstained from logging on to my Free To Be Instagram account. In retrospect, I believe I might have gone onto my personal Instagram page a handful of times over the 6 months to look for something or someone. However, unplugging from Instagram rocked my world in a number of very useful ways:
1) I became way more present in my day-to-day life.
Truth be told I would often have a hamster wheel in the back of my head spinning if I came across something I liked. Questions such as, “Should I post this?” “What should I caption this?” occurred more often than I had realized or dared to admit. I had developed a default thinking pattern and it took me out of the present moment of whatever I was engaged in – be that with my kids, husband, friends, or even enjoying being outside. That voice quieted down and became almost non-existent.
2) I became more creative and produced more meaningful work.
Prior to May, I would spend my time writing content for Instagram, and my passion for researching and writing was pushed to the backburner. I started researching and writing again in a variety of topics that were important to me, including complex trauma for children.
I was also able to co-found and begin operations on another non-profit organization, Care For Women, to support new mothers during the complex and challenging first few weeks of motherhood (another issue important to me).
3) I began executing a revised and crystalized business plan for Free To Be.
As I learnt more about the philosophy of deep work (thanks Cal Newport) I spent time developing strategies that would improve the long-term health of my non-profit. Prior to May, to stay ahead of the ever-changing, ever-penalizing algorithm, I was constantly getting distracted and would spend time scrolling, commenting, and creating content for Instagram. I decided that was unsustainable and radically shifted my goals and created a vision and clearer plan about how to help more kids and grow Free To Be outside of social media.
4) My attention improved.
This is still a work in progress, but believe it or not, I noticed over the course of 6 months that my brain was slowly being rewired to not need a “hit” from the ever-changing novelty Instagram provides. I began reading even more books and intentionally engaging in activities where my attention needed to be sustained.
5) I started thinking when I was bored.
Not allowing myself to absentmindedly scroll meant I was bored at various times in the day. I realized I had wired my brain to always need to be entertained and distracted. When I was distracted I couldn’t engage in deep thinking. Overtime, I started to think about issues – weigh pros and cons and formulate arguments in my head about issues I cared about.
6) I compared myself less to others.
As humans we are wired to compare and evaluate. And though I would remind myself that everyone is at a different spot in their life, it was hard to not notice or feel disappointed or jealous (however slightly) with some of the opportunities others were having that I would like. Unplugging from Instagram really helped me become even more present in the moment and appreciate where I was at.
Recently, I went through my phone and deleted even more Apps. I bought a watch to be less dependent on my phone for the time. I even wrote the rough copy of this blog post on good old-fashioned pen and paper. I have also recently logged back on to Instagram and posted some content. And while, for now, I have decided to allow it to be a useful tool in my life I have developed a much clearer plan about how I will utilize it. I’m not opposed to social media but I am opposed to having these platforms be such big stakeholders in my mind, life and business. I get one life to live, so I want to live it in the best way I can. Social media is hard for me to engage with unless I put very strict boundaries in place. And truth be told, I probably am missing out on some opportunities by being on social media less. But I’m okay with those possible missed opportunities because I’m able to live aligned with the values that I believe are important in my life. At the end of the day I’m never going to wish I had spent more time on social media.
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