## [t3_z80qgv](https://www.reddit.com/r/minimalism/comments/z80qgv/final_nail_in_the_coffin_digital_minimalism/)
Last month I deleted my Instagram. 

Over the past couple of years I’ve been slowly minimizing my addictive digital life bit by bit. FaceBook, Snapchat and other apps were honestly very easy for me to let go of but there was always one app I couldn’t quite get rid of..and that was Instagram. I made every excuse to keep it, telling myself that somehow it contributed to my life. Instagram is a heavily image based experience which has always appealed to me, I would get sucked into the mindless scrolling. Using it as an escape mechanism.

I haven’t been without social media in 17 years (not including YT and Reddit) since I created a MySpace account in middle school. MySpace was this brand new world for me where after school you got to maintain interaction with all of the people you knew, it was incredible. You weren’t bombarded by ads, reels and other junk. At some point everyone left MySpace to explore the new world of FB which was equally awesome at the time. But.. we started to get ads, reels and things you didn’t even subscribe to popping up on your “feed”. Once FB bought Instagram the same thing happened. These platforms were turned into tools that use us, not the other way around. 

Its been a weird few weeks following my departure from social media, being the first time since I was a kid in the 90’s where I haven’t had constant digital distraction. My brain was freaking out trying to replace it with some source of new stimulation. The best thing I’ve found is to convert that desire for stimulation into things you TRULY love doing in life and putting more time into your actual relationships. As soon as I deleted Instagram it’s like I woke from a deep slumber, confronted with so many things I had been avoiding. So many questions about myself that needed answers.

Since then I have been avidly learning a new instrument, reading lots of books, learning to cook Japanese food, exercising more, and got more focused on camping and hiking which is my favorite hobby. I wanted to write all of this because perhaps it’s something the right person needs to hear to take that scary step into the unknown and get rid of Instagram for good. Hope this helps!

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submitted to [r/minimalism](https://www.reddit.com/r/minimalism) by [u/MatchaEnj0yer](https://www.reddit.com/user/MatchaEnj0yer)