It’s been over twelve years since I first joined and started sharing photos of my life on Instagram. I remember the quirky in-app filters, friends sharing food and random in-the-moment pictures (before stories came out), and all the nice people I met through the platform before it became what it’s nowadays. There were no influencers, no ads, and no algorithm that shows you only certain accounts.
I never stopped since I joined back in 2011. Every day I would open the application, sometimes consciously and sometimes mindlessly as a routine or boredom. I scrolled, scrolled, and scrolled.
Instagram was one of the most fun ways to keep in touch with friends from all over the world. It made things easy, perhaps too easy. We would share photos we like, start conversations based on these, and create groups to keep in touch with different friend circles. It was fun but also took away time from my life that I could’ve used for more important things. No regrets.
Things have changed. It’s been almost a month since I decided to deactivate my Instagram account and take a pause from the infinity pool of mindlessly scrolling. And I’ve not looked back since. I’m not sure how long this pause will be, but I believe it’s a healthy and conscious choice I need at this moment.
Originally posted on Tiny Letter #1.
Richard Chan 