I finally did it.
After years of fighting the urge, I clicked the “temporarily disable my account” button.
Done with Instagram. Not forever, but for now. And not because I have some kind of social media addiction or because I don’t enjoy interacting with my friends, family, and listeners on IG. (Well, unless you send me a direct message asking “what’s this book about?” … as if there were no such thing as Amazon or Google.) But because of that other urge.
You probably know all about this particular urge. It’s the one that happens when you’re trying to get something done and it’s as if your phone is shouting:
HEY, PICK ME UP AND SEE WHAT’S HAPPENING ON THE INSTAGRAM!
Next thing you know, you’re 47 minutes down the rabbit hole — liking, commenting, direct messaging, scrolling, comparing …
Meanwhile, that thing you were working on is no closer to being done. But at least you know what all of your friends had for lunch and you got to read a bunch of motivational quotes that apparently weren’t motivating enough to get you to close the app and get back to what you were doing.
That 47-minute interruption today turns into 5.5 hours this week, 21 hours this month, 268 hours this year. That’s eleven full 24-hour days of scrolling. Enough time to dramatically expand your expertise and become one of the best in your field.
And that’s the thing about technology. Gone are the days of visiting the local library and digging through the card catalogs. Now we have all of the information we ever wanted literally at our fingertips. But instead of using this modern technological gift as a vehicle for creating the life of our dreams, we often use it as a distraction, to make our lives appear dreamier than they really are, or to watch other people live their dream lives.
So today I challenge you.
I challenge you to disable your account for 7 days — to see how much more productive you can be, to know how much better you feel when you’re not comparing yourself to others, to experience life without posting it as a story, and to rediscover what it’s like to pick up the phone to find out how your friends are doing.
I think you’ll dig it.
I managed to stay off of IG for 3 weeks. It was AMAZING. The only reason I got back on was to get NBA free agency news over the weekend. (Kawhi, you’re killing me!)
Once my 7-day reactivation period is over, I’ll be disabling my account again. I mean, I have a week-daily podcast and a bi-weekly newsletter. Do I really need to be in your consciousness any more than that???
On today’s QOD episode, Steve Harvey keeps this topic going by encouraging you to “stop wasting technology.” To partner modern technology with a strong work ethic. When you do that, you can’t help but be successful.
Enjoy today’s quote. Leave a comment below and let us know what you think!
