It wasn’t until a few weeks ago that I realized I had a real issue. I was practically glued to my phone, embarrassingly invested that a former LFHS student, and now influencer, Brett Chody, was running the Chicago Marathon. I was following every update throughout her day; how could I not be staying up to date with Chody being at Lake Forest’s very own, Deer Path Inn?
My parents became genuinely concerned with my constant talk about influencers online and Chody’s performance at her marathon. And that’s when it hit me. I’ve always known how being on my phone was wasting my time, but I never really realized how much of my time was wasted investing in random people I shouldn’t care about, nonetheless shouldn’t even know about.
So I decided to test out deleting Instagram for a week. I was sure my productivity and focus would increase, but what I was really trying to see was if avoiding all celebrities, influencers, and other creators I followed would make me feel more “grounded” and focused on myself. I’ve never had TikTok, so Instagram was always my pure source for content, news, and updates.
On my first day without Instagram, I found myself clicking on the empty space on my phone where Instagram used to be, like muscle memory. It was one thing if I was going towards it to look something up, but what really surprised me was how often I was gravitating towards Instagram when doing mindless activities. Whether it was after I finished a problem of my math homework, sitting with my friends, or even when I was watching something on TV, it was an impulse that I needed to fill a gap of empty time with mindless scrolling.
After a few days, I noticed a major change in my tendencies. I was starting to avoid my phone, keeping it away from me. My screen time decreased, and my productivity and hours of sleep increased, which was to be expected. However, what really felt refreshing was not subconsciously caring about or following the lives of random people.
After this experience, I definitely can recommend taking time off social media to focus more on yourself and stop investing your time in others. Taking moments of your day to be with yourself and your own thoughts rather than filling time with noise for the dopamine hit is something that I think everyone could benefit from.
