Reflection on a Month Away from Instagram

As in, we all know social media is rotting our brains.

Back in 2018, when we were still living in Nashville, I quit social media. I deleted my Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, and Instagram accounts to protect my creativity energy and hone in on the life I really wanted to live. It worked. A few years later, missing the redemptive parts of being online, I returned to Instagram. This past month, I once again deleted the app to, once again, refocus my energy and life. I have very little to say that hasn’t already been said eloquently by many others about the immense benefits of being off of social media.

I will tell you that, for the most part, I didn’t (and still don’t) miss it. My time and attention are more focused. My creative energy has spiked, and my compulsion to consume has lessened in the absence of daily “reminders” from influencers that I need this and that product in order to make my life smoother, easier, more beautiful, etc. etc.

I don’t deny that social media can be incredibly meaningful in its ability to connect people and make the world more accessible, but the downfalls are dealt in equal measure—echo chambers, nonstop advertising, doom scrolling, and more.

After this month away, I have decided to settle on a middle ground that I’ve seen modeled by one of my teachers. I’ll keep the app off my phone and instead check messages a few times a month via a laptop where getting caught in a loop of daily scrolling and story swiping is a little harder. Perhaps I’ll post once or twice a month as inspired but I intend to be as absent as I can be, and instead continue to focus my online energy here, on Substack. Substack still feels like a somewhat fresh space in that advertisers and influencers haven’t figured out how to dominate it. In contrast to other platforms, my experience here has consisted mostly of connecting with other writers and reading incredible stories without pressure to create or consume nonstop.

I am sure that the day will come when that changes. Already, it seems that the world of marketing is gathering its wits to determine how to infiltrate the platform and make a profit. For now, it remains a delightful place for me, so I want to focus my attention and energy on it.

In the meantime, here are a few happy moments from February—some baking, lots of river walks to note the changing weather, many brunches and celebrations with friends, lengthening days, and greetings from wildlife.

Perhaps the most surreal moment of February was watching a Cooper’s hawk devour a rat in my own backyard. The six-hour process culminated with a juvenile Cooper’s hawk swooping in and stealing the remains… !! I vacillated between awe, disgust, and sadness. The whole of it was a wild, wild (literally) thing to witness.

We also celebrated nine years of marriage with a dinner at our favorite Italian restaurant, followed by coffee and pie at another shop. It was the first time we didn’t take off work and celebrate more extensively, but it was a small sacrifice made to pile up our coins for a languorous trip abroad next year for our momentous 10-year mark.

The next day, on the last day of the month, we jumped in Lake Michigan again for the thrill of being alive and to continue fulfilling a promise made on Jan. 1 to do so at least once a month every month this year.

Despite the heaviness of personal and collective life, I feel great hope for the unfolding of this year. Let’s see what it continues to bring.

All my love,
Angelina Danae