6 Influential Reasons Why I Quit Instagram

A place where people post their filtered highlight reels to feed their egos.

1. It’s not real. Literally none of it is. If people start sharing photos of the new zit on their forehead or their fight with the Comcast guy, then I’ll start considering it to be real. But for now, it’s just a place where people post their filtered highlight reels to feed their egos.

2. I stopped caring what others thought about me. When you’re no longer concerned with how people view you, social media seems useless. It’s a platform to present yourself on. I didn’t want to waste any more time posting things to impress people who I didn’t know or care about. My family and close friends know what’s going on in my life, and that’s all that matters.

3. Privacy is more important to me now. I started getting weirded out that people who I’d never met before knew so much about my “life.” By looking at my profile, anyone could probably figure out where I lived, worked, and spent most of my free time. That’s scary.

4. I wasn’t looking for other people’s approval or feedback anymore. The inauthentic “likes” and comments no longer had an effect on me, especially after realizing how many people just praised each other’s posts so they’d get “likes” back. I even found out people I knew were literally BUYING “likes” and followers. If I’m going to be receiving any sort of feedback, I at least want it to be real.

5. I found better outlets for my photography. After a while, the only reason I was still on Instagram was to display my photography and be influenced by other people’s creativity. This was why Instagram was originally created, but now only about 10 percent of it is used for that. Instead, I enrolled in a photography course and found better apps for inspiration, like VSCO.

6. I wanted to live life in the moment. Looking back at the happiest times in my life, none of them involved social media. Traveling (with no Wi-Fi), summer camp, singing, dancing… living in the moment is what brings me pure joy. I wasted too much time trying to capture things rather than fully live it. Getting rid of Instagram has opened up more time to spend on hobbies that feed my soul — like writing this blog.