What Quitting Instagram Taught Me

Anonymous

1. The number of likes don’t define me

What Quitting Instagram Taught Me

Back then, I’d be full out obsessed with how many likes my new post had garnered. If I had gotten a few, disappointment it was. Sometimes I’d feel like I just looked plain ugly in the picture, like there was no hope and I should try harder.

What Quitting Instagram Taught Me

Even worse, to make up for my insecurity at times I would lowkey think that my followers on Instagram who didn’t ‘like’ my pic were just jealous of me. Indeed it was unhealthy. And that’s pretty embarrassing to admit. I was depending too much on Instagram for self-validation.

2. I don’t need to be half-naked, I don’t need competition

What Quitting Instagram Taught Me

Countless cleavages, half-naked booty shoots and all. I felt compelled to do the same to get plenty of likes. Wouldn’t it be cool to become Instagram-famous? Don’t get me wrong, personallg there’s nothing disgusting about people who show their body off. Kudos to them if they are genuinely confident about their own body and skin!

But when it gets to the point where I was blatantly scrolling to the women’s comment sections and feeling deep jealousy on the amount of attention she was getting, then yes, that’s definitely a no-no. I wasn’t going to be desperate.

3. Why let “Unfollowers” ruin my day?

If I had a friend I knew in real life who had just unfollowed me, I’d think they were enemies and hated me. I downloaded an app which shows which followers in my list had unfollowed me. And when I saw my followers count go down, I remember just freaking out and scurrying to the app to investigate the scene.

Then *click*... I’d successfully unfollowed them back.

Reality was, I was wasting my time caring about who and why they unfollowed me and trying to convince myself that they were my enemies.

What Quitting Instagram Taught Me

4. Instagram is a waste of time

I was not getting anything looking through the heaps of celebrities’ profiles and photos and comment sections. All I was getting was “Low self-esteem” poison seeping through me without even realising it.

Oh holy, Kylie Jenner? Wow she’s got a fucking splendid life! Damn, just look at her jets, her cars, her endless new clothings. Why can’t I be that successful as her at a young age! Why, oh why?

Wow a Victoria secret model, Gigi Hadid! Jesus, she’s a 10/10 stunning beauty! And she even got Zayn Malik as her boyfriend? Amazingggg.

-And the story goes on for a bit, tra la la-

People, if all you are doing is envying people’s luxurious life and feeling shitty about it, you’re wasting your time. Don’t make up excuses like you’re trying to motivate yourself. It’s not about the destination, it’s about the process, the journey.

5. Fewer responsibilities

When I still had Instagram, I would feel some pressure to always keep up with many of friends’ daily lives. I’d try my best to ‘like’ their posts and drop comments here and there, making sure I hadn’t forgotten any. If I didn’t, I felt as if I were just a shitty friend or as if I was missing out. It’s not like they expected me to like every of their pictures, it was the unrealistic level of expectation that I had placed for myself. It was also the thinking that if I kept ‘liking’ their posts, they’d reciprocate and I wouldn’t have to worry about not getting likes in future. As if I would make a loyal ‘fan’. And likewise, if my friends didn’t ‘like’ my posts, I’d make a mental note to NOT ‘like’ theirs either the next time.

What Quitting Instagram Taught Me

It was that ridiculous. That ridiculous.

•••Thanks for reading! I know some of you are wondering why I wrote so little. I still have some more points but I am sort of rushing at the moment. I spent only an hour on this, sorry! Oh and no point blabbering and realising this topic is actually not of interest to you guys! 😂 So it’s kinda a win-win!

What Quitting Instagram Taught Me
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