Life: Designed

Oh, I’ll just scroll on Instagram a little. A couple of minutes can’t hurt. 

A couple of minutes adds up fast. Before you know it, you’ve spent days wasted away scrolling on your phone. Typically, I don’t even want to think about how much time I am losing when I’m sucked into my phone. Then I actually did. 

Glued to the Scroll

My screentime (figure 1), while not the worst it could be, was not great. The week of September 1st, I spent over half a day on Instagram. In comparison to those 12 hours, I only spent a little over 9 hours that week on messages (a majority of this time is spent talking to my long-distance boyfriend). This means that I am spending more time a week mindlessly scrolling on Instagram than I am talking to someone I love and care about. I didn’t like that idea one bit. 

After scrolling for a while, I just feel gross. I want to stop. I want to be productive, I want to close the app and move on, but I can’t. I tell myself, “Just one more video.” It’s never just one more. That’s no surprise, though; it’s by design. “These sites are designed to be maximally distracting. They need to distract us, to make more money,” says former Google engineer, Tristan Harris. The more time that goes by, the less fun it is, the more time I waste, and the more I have to will myself to stop. 

So what if I just stop? What if I take a break from the scroll?

The Plan

For 5 days, September 8th through 12th, I would be doing a digital detox of Instagram and TikTok. 

This was a particularly interesting challenge for me as I need to go on Instagram to post for my two social media management jobs. I couldn’t just delete the apps and eliminate my ability to use them for a week. I actively had to go on and spend a couple of minutes doing what I had to, and then resist the urge to stay. 

Since I had to go on Instagram, my original plan was to just specifically detox from scrolling on TikToks/Reels. This quickly turned into a full detox of both platforms, as I knew I would be too tempted or would accidentally go and start scrolling through reels. 

In the past, I started to separate myself from TikTok in order to try to reduce my scrolling time. I placed a 20-minute time limit on the app and then moved it off of my homescreen, so I couldn’t just click on it; I’d have to go out of my way to find the app. It’s been relatively successful in keeping my usage of TikTok down, so I decided to employ the same strategies. For the week of my detox, I moved Instagram and TikTok off my home screen and then set the screen time limits on both apps to 0 hours and 0 minutes. This way, if I even accidentally tried to open the app, I would be reminded to close it by being locked out. 

According to WomensMedia, establishing screen time limits “helps establish boundaries and prevents excessive digital consumption,” and “helps us manage our time effectively.”  

My goals for this week were: Read my book most nights, work on passion projects, and finish homework by  11 PM. 

With that, it was time to begin. 

The Week of the Detox

The beginning of the week was relatively easy. I was so busy with coursework that I barely had any time to worry about social media anyway. While I did go to open Instagram a couple of times, it was out of force of habit. I moved on easily and was. 

As the week went on, the detox got harder. I started to feel like I was missing out. A lot was happening in the world. Local events were being announced, and huge stories made national news. Now, the outlets I would typically turn to to get this information and see others’ thoughts on it were gone.

My week died down a lot in the second half. I didn’t have as much to get done, and on top of it, I had to go home for a few appointments. I just live with my mom, so there was barely anything to distract me from my urge to scroll. 

Throughout, there were little moments of frustration. I wished I could check something or pull up a video I had mentioned. But I couldn’t. I even just wished I had something mindless I could do to fill my time. But I didn’t. 

I never realized just how ingrained Instagram is in my everyday life. I don’t just use it for entertainment or for my job. I wake up and scroll in an effort to stop myself from falling back asleep. I use it to check meeting info, news, and stay up to date. I even use it in everyday conversation when I mention someone to my friends and go find them on Instagram to help them put a face to the name. 

Looking Back

Below you can find a visual breakdown of some of the data I collected throughout my detox week: 

Throughout the week, I succeeded in not using TikTok at all. I only spent 22 total minutes on Instagram because of work, and throughout the 22 minutes, I did not scroll through any reels.

I observed that I spent less time on my phone this week, reducing my average screen time from over 5 hours to just over 3 hours. 

I started the week with higher average pickups than the week before, but as it went on, I had lower average pickups. I find this interesting because I felt like I was more inclined to pick up my phone later in the week since I was home with less to do. 

This week, I saved an average of 2 hours and 45 minutes by not scrolling. Take a look at Figure 1 above to see how that time adds up!

My mood, stress level, and sleep quality stayed pretty much the same as they tend to be in a typical week. I did, however, feel a lot more productive this week than I normally do. 

But did I meet my goals this week? Not really. I read once on Thursday night, but that was it. However, I feel like I would have been more inclined to read if I were further into my book, as opposed to just starting, and had a smaller workload. I did work on and finished one of my passion projects this week, a lyric video to Rihanna’s Breakin’ Dishes. I definitely did not meet my goal of being done with work by 11 PM. Every single day this week, I stayed up past that time working because of the sheer amount of coursework I had to complete. 

Moving Forward

As I come out of this detox week, I do not think I can completely forego Instagram and TikTok, but I do want to make some changes. I will be adding an hour daily time limit to Instagram moving forward, as I have decided there is no reason I need to be spending over that amount on it. 

I want to work on my time management skills and see if there are more effective ways to get my work done so I can fit more reading and passion projects into my day instead of working late into the night every night. 

I want to work towards being more present in my everyday life, enjoying what’s in front of me instead of what’s behind a screen. 

“The combined total of 200,00 more human lifetimes–every moment from birth to death–is now spent scrolling” 

– Johann Hari, Stolen Focus. 

Although my detox is over, this is only the start of my journey. I don’t know where it will take me, but I can only hope it’s away from a screen.