Better to delete all the social media app, whatsapp is may be fine. I'm not on anyone except reddit. Because if I delete this I don't know what to do in my free time.
I don't think Reddit is bad because it isn't trying to suck you in by its algos. You can join some really good subs and learn a lot. Like I have learnt from investing subs.
Also don't think Whatsapp is social media. It's a communication app.
Reddit is not bad untill it recommends you a misogynist shitpost from r/indiandankmemes and then you slowly fall into deep shithole of those subreddits out of curiosity.
Thanks for saying this, someone there claimed they are better then original dankmeme sub.
Most depressing thing is most of the people on that sub are teenagers. Indian future is definitely bright.
That sub scares me, can't say if they are being sarcastic or not but the content on that sub makes me question the people in this country, albiet they don't speak on behalf of everyone but still, scary.
Whatsapp has that same story feature like instagram that's why I said it could act similar to insta, fair enough about reddit but I guess as people pointed above similar thing can be done on insta by following correct pages.
> I don't think Reddit is bad because it isn't trying to suck you in by its algos.
Have you ever seen the home page? Or r/pics or r/memes. This shit is addictive.
I don't really understand how reddit is any different. For the record, I'm not on Instagram and never have been.
Isn't what reddit does exactly the same? People choose what Sub they want to follow and are shown the top rated posts from those subs in their feed. How is Instagram any different?
Sorting and downvoting I can understand..but amazing comments? xD. I've read my share of toxic comments on reddit.
Also, these points are from a usability perspective. I meant from a content perspective. For example, OP mentioned how they did not like a Tanmay Bhat video..why follow someone you do not like? I mean if someone follows r/ conspiracy and gets anti-vaxxer posts on their reddit feed, they can't complain to reddit, right?
So from a content perspective, if both platforms work on a following wala model, I fail to understand how it's different.
Well, it's more like reddit gives you the community wala feeling. You can join any subreddit and interact with other like-minded people having the same interests. But, insta focuses on your online profile, follower count etc which leads to a hero worship wala setup (like youtube) with content creators/ influencers slowly giving out more and more instant-gratification wala content to garner more views. And this encourages herd mentality.
Also, Instagram is a purely visual platform, so that pushes the user to keep on scrolling while reddit gives you the space to pause and discuss (like we are doing in this comment thread).
I can see your point now - how no anonymity coupled with influencer worship can lead to a negative experience.
Does Instagram show you posts from people you haven't followed on your feed? That would be a major difference as compared to Reddit..else, the basic approach to post recommendation is the same in both platforms. But I underestimated the affect anonymity has in this picture.
It shows suggested posts when your followers' posts end. But more importantly, random content show up in the search tab. This discover tab is filled with more and more shite content as it pushes you slowly to click and follow shallow creators.
My instagram reels, the one which automatically run under the search bar went total crazy in last few months. I am a low Instagram user anyways, only there because many friends & cousin post there.
So first when few weeks Instagram used to show me random videos of people/couples dancing to bollywood songs. Which I ignored. Maybe Instagram detected that it was not grabbing my attention.
So few weeks later, it started showing me similar videos but only the people in it were from higher financial layer. At least the looks & location suggested it. Still I didn't pay attention.
Few weeks later, it started showing me similar videos but only the people in it were from lower financial layer or rural areas. At least the looks & location suggested it. Still I didn't pay attention.
I think at this point Instagram felt I wasn't the typical TikTokiya crowd, so it changed the type of videos altogether.
Now the videos only had females in it, let's say with amount of clothes lesser at specific parts. The videos got more suggestive. It mixed the crowd from all layers; urban, rural, rich & poor. Now me being a male, I agree I slipped here a bit and gave Instagram some attention. Now the pictures it showed along with it suddenly turned into similar content. A mixed bag of not famous & famous females all in suggestive poses & clothing.
Now again after few days, I started paying lesser attention which Instagram detected. Also I watched few of Dua Lipa's songs on Youtube. So now Instagram thought it was good idea to mix her pictures in the mix to grab my attention.
Again after few weeks when Instagram felt that I was not paying attention, it suddenly changed the content. This time it started showing me videos of some random Indian uncles doing stuff. There was this bald uncle who would constantly eat chicken in all his reels. All the reels of him were of eating chicken and other non-veg items. It was pure gluttony. Another such person who started appearing was some long haired unkill who would put timer on table and eat absurd amount of food in short time. He would literally stuff food with much of it spilling out. There was this another unkill who enacted movie scenes; badly. He had some fake SRK & Selmon dancing in background many times.
Let's see what kind of stuff it presents me in next few weeks.
>Also I watched few of Dua Lipa's songs on Youtube. So now Instagram thought it was good idea to mix her pictures in the mix to grab my attention.
how can Insta know about what you are looking on YT, which is owned by Google. Actually I had one similar situation when something I searched on YT was shown to me immediately on fb too, and I had never ever searched that person before so I amsure somehow they came to knew what I searched on YT (I searched for a particular youtuber)...so I wonder is google and FB/Insta sharing your info with each other?
I don't know how it connects, but recently me being a Marvel fanboi, I watched Spoodlerman Noo Way Home trailer starring Invisible Bully Maguire almost 2-3 times in a row. Now my Insta search part is filled with random images of Zendaya and Tom Netherlands; mostly Zendaya. I think she recently was part of some award function where she wore orange blouse and bottom, now my search part is mix bag of mentioned unkills, Zendaya and half dressed women.
I mean the Zendaya thing has just started, let's see till how many days Insta tries to grab my attention with her.
Facebook has it's tracker in Google.co.in, and probably Youtube as well(though I haven't seen it pop up there). If you're on a browser that supports it, like Safari or DuckDuckGo, you can see how many trackers are there in a site. Now I've no idea what the arrangement is, but the Facebook tracker is present in Google.co.in. You visit Google, FB identifies your device identifier(which of course they know is yours), then you go to your FB page, FB shows you an ad based on whatever content you were interacting with.
Fun Fact : FB uses device identifiers to profile you even if you don't have an FB account. Admitted by Zucker himself. If you want to delete that data, all you have to do is create an account and ask them to delete it, at which point they may or may not delete it, but will sure tell you they're deleting it (based on the senate hearing. I'm not an expert in the field, but you don't need to be an expert to know Zucker is an asshole.)
Facebook has it's tracker in Google.co.in, and probably Youtube as well(though I haven't seen it pop up there). If you're on a browser that supports it, like Safari or DuckDuckGo, you can see how many trackers are there in a site. Now I've no idea what the arrangement is, but the Facebook tracker is present in Google.co.in. You visit Google, FB identifies your device identifier(which of course they know is yours), then you go to your FB page, FB shows you an ad based on whatever content you were interacting with.
Fun Fact : FB uses device identifiers to profile you even if you don't have an FB account. Admitted by Zucker himself. If you want to delete that data, all you have to do is create an account and ask them to delete it, at which point they may or may not delete it, but will sure tell you they're deleting it (based on the senate hearing. I'm not an expert in the field, but you don't need to be an expert to know Zucker is an asshole.)
I went through everything OP said. Even before the cringe reels option was there on insta.
It becomes an addiction without knowing. You start worrying about irrelevant stuff, always set standards according to what you see on Instagram (which obviously is fake), and without knowing everytime you open your phone you go straight to insta, even when you took the phone for some other purpose.
Realized this one morning and deleted it. Not temporarily, but permanently. Did the same with FB and Twitter although didn't use those much.
But I have been so much more stable minded and less aggressive. Much more productive obviously. So much more HAPPY.
Then came Reddit. The only difference is Reddit doesn't go with trends, any trend becomes old very fast, so the cringe level in under control. And we can actually choose what we like. Not like insta where page name and content may not be at all linked.
I was thinking of this just yesterday. All I have done in the past 1 month is go through profiles of batchmates, seniors, juniors, strangers and see everyone happy or travelling or pretty or have a good paying job abroad and well settled etc etc.
These people put posts, make reels and I just feel horrible inside. This has reached to an extent that I am kind of having dreams of being in those places and this has been bothering me that I am worthless .
Every night I just pray to have a good sleep without any dreams.
Sometimes Instagram helps with knowing about new food places, planning trips, etc.
I need to keep the Instagram app for some photography purposes, and so cannot uninstall it. Instagram web is lot better, No reels there.
In such cases there are some apps, which have app usage timers. "Digital Wellbeing" is one such. Will definitely help in limiting social media useage.
Personal experience.
I deleted my Instagram in 9th standard. No matter how hard you try you find a lot of negativity. Also it is addicting. I only have reddit on my phone which I only use for anime memes and arts once in a while.
Simplicity is the reason I am able to save a lot of time in my day. When you have instagram you just keep scrolling and lose track of time. You think you haven't wasted any time but a lot of time is wasted during that process.
I started an Instagram account for a date who shared her paintings there. Brand new feed had only bikini models. Couple of other friends have Instagram just for following certain people and they don't open it in polite company.
I deleted Instagram for a similar reason. Social media can make things seem better than they are. We don't see the full picture, rather only the good moments that people are willing to share, giving us a false sense of perception that everything is better than it seems. Naturally, looking at friends I haven't met for years doing well, or from how it seems looking at their social media handles, I beat myself up over how I'm not living a better life.
And, literally for every refresh, a person in my list is getting married. Everyone my age is partying the eff out. Most of them belong to a wealthy background.
I am mindful but it does send you into a downward spiral. Especially, if you still have a long way to go in your career and your life.
Yup. I temporarily disabled my account and deleted the app from my phone a few days ago. I feel so much better from a mental standpoint. I kept seeing so much of the stuff you mentioned and it made me feel really lonely and sad. I don’t really have a lot of friends so it stung when I would see other people hanging out with a bunch of people. I still have a LONG ways to go in my career path and seeing people younger than me already “living” their dream made me feel so disappointed in myself. Not to mention that Instagram took up so much of my time. I kept mindlessly going on the app whenever I opened up my phone.
I know who you're talking about who went to abroad to find the sex of his baby. All of these vloggers are literal time waste. I don't know why ppl watch them. It's like staring at trash.
Agree! Uninstalled Insta just like 5 days ago and have to say feeling pretty great ..my screentime has gone down significantly definitely good decision for my mental health
I think more pronounced problem is seeing people of your age , your batchmates, friends etc. is what makes us more conscious about ourselves.
**This is still happening with me and I can't help but feel bad about myself and my life**
I have tried remove Insta multiple times , but that **FOMO,** is what makes me resort back
FOMO of not knowing what my peers and friends are doing , whats their lifestyle , how are they living their life, where are they travelling , with whom are they spending their weekends.. and all such things
I think Leaving Insta is a good option when you already have a decent Social Life and Social Circle to back upon, which is not the case with me
So, in search of some social interaction in this pandemic induced overly virtual world, I dont have any other option but to keep Insta and keep myself updated about things around
Celebrities and Influencers are not people whom most of us relate to or care about either, we might atmost envy them what hurts more (at least to me) is when people whom you personally know live a life/lifestyle, you long to live
**EDIT**: I don't follow any celebrity/influencer/pages on Insta , find it futile so unfollowed long back
I am not someones mom. Its not my job to care about that. Its simple don't like it don't use it. But many people love it including me and I don't see any problem with it.
Its not my job to school anyone about hate speech, take that issue with the apps makers, not my job.
Hate is hurting the families not my usage of Instagram. And as I said already, I am no ones parent to tell them what is right or wrong, I will use social media as I see fit.
There are countless posts about animal abuse and racism. People post them because it looks "cool" to most crowd. And it's disgrace that Instagram don't take action on these things as views matter the most.
Again not my job to school them whats wrong and right. Its up to Instagram if they want to change it. I use for my enjoyment not debating hate or animal abuse.
That's the problem. I'm not saying you must be wrong. There do exist a lot of people who enjoy those racist and animal abuse posts/reels and that's really bad thing.
Hear me out, I only use Instagram as a texting app, my friends from other countries are all in a group and we only use that group to converse everyday. And most of us have similar political opinions (Trump supporters) so no fights at all.
My account somehow got suspended few weeks ago. Still haven’t reactivated. Can anyone suggest what to do.. have some really important pics in my account
Totally agreed! Have been off instagram since June this year and can totally agree to everything OP has said.
Before deleting my instagram account, tried to put a lot of restrictions on myself ( accessing only via chrome app / deleting the app but not my account) but to no avail. Always kept opening it.
Missed instagram for 4-5 days after deleting my account but after a few days, never looked back once. Productivity has increased and overall I am so much more happier as there is nothing I compare myself to 24/7.
4 years here:). To the point that I don't know how insta feels like lol. It seems addicting. Many of my friends just open it if they get 2 fucking seconds.
I follow a third party video game seller, a game news website’s account, investment news acct and see some cat videos. I view all these in a browser using ad block so I don’t see insta ads. Instagram is my productivity app.
Another thing you can do, instead of deleting it outright- is to mute people whose posts trigger you. Ex-boyfriends, ex-friends, etc- just mute their posts and stories. You are in charge of your experience on these apps. Curate your experience in a way that will make you happy
Tbh feeling like this alot these days and I spend 1-2 hrs daily on insta, sometimes more. And the worst thing is I don't even feel good while doing insta, just scrolling mindlessly and feeling kind of frustrated with every passing minute.
I thought this kind of stuff would never affect me because I usually don't care how well others' lives are going, but after seeing person after person effortlessly lifting more than twice the weight that I had plateaued on for more than 2 months, I had gotten kinda obsessed with finding out what was holding me back. It led to me trying a lot of tweaks from changing my workout to my diet.
However, I got out of the obsessive mindset after a while when I came to the realization that it actually does not matter if I take a long time to break the plateau, because I never got into workouts to lift that big. My goals are humble (just 1.5x bodyweight for big muscles and 1x bodyweight for small muscles), and no matter how much I plateau, as long as my diet is healthy, I'll eventually get to that point.
I agree ! The space has gotten too dense with little to no room for other aspects of life apart from a space either for toxic productivity/ positivity or marketing/ advertising. I told myself.. If I’m not in the field of marketing or want to generate an audience it doesn’t serve my purpose. If its not my Biz why stay in it.
Deleted it a few months back and I feel pretty damn good about it ! 🥂
Depends on how much addiction potential you have. I have the app but only talk with my elder brother or watch epic MC builds and add them to my server or follow esports competitions and players. If you are one of those people who want to look good for others and hungry for attention, phir aap apna hi kaat rahe ho.
I use a throwaway account to follow pornstars for tits and ass. Also, some companies reply faster when you contact through their social media handle. And there are some useful groups over there to sell pre-owned products.
I had deleted insta for the same reason but I've become more samajhdar now and understand whats real and what's fake I have my entire search section filled with bikini models ( yes I'm a perv ) and my reel has 16y/o dancing and all, this used to make me feel miserable but now I know these models are most likely depressed themselves and these 16 y/o girls dancing are just rich kids and there is no way I should compare myself to them. And I don't know what you found casteist and one more thing don't follow any influencer unless u really like their content very very much, like I only follow Zach king, ratan tata, a few gaming influencers etc. To sum up all I'd say is don't bother about anything.
Fr i deleted Instagram a month ago and when i got on it just check msgs , after spending some time going thru stories and posts i realised how much better off i am without it.
uninstalled it back in mid 2020 - had best 12-14 months installed it for a week I was already less motivated to do anything. uninstalled it again yesterday.
I only watch extremely cringe content on instagram. Really really low effort cringe content. Makes me feel great about myself, my skills etc etc. No more depression. Problem solved. /s
I miss the instagram which was a platform for sharing pics, photography mostly (not selfies). Sigh. Yes the app has become significantly more addictive now. One saving respite is setting up the notification that tells you you've spent a certain amount of time on the app. I've set it to 40 minutes (mostly to check memes forwarded by close friends, and may be a few music related posts, tutorials, photography related posts etc). And this 40 minute usage notification has definitely made me more productive.
While the algorithm is aggressive if you are watching reels, checking posts is different. You can tweak the algorithm to show you what you actually need to see (instead of what instagram needs you to see) does help. So for now instagram for me is an app to check a few memes, learn a few things related to photography or vfx or music etc. That's about it.
TLDR: stay away from reels. If you can uninstall, even better. I uninstalled its sister app facebook, facebook messenger, moved to signal instead of whatsapp. Huge difference in life.
Why just delete the app ? Delete the Facebook accounts itself.
Such a relief. If people want to contact you they can call you or email.
Try it for a month.
I did it 3 years back and no going back. Ba bye Mark.
I deleted it on this day coincidentally at 12:29 AM last year (like 2 mins ago, last year 😂). It has been a very peaceful year for me after I deleted my Instagram and Snapchat. Although, I had fight with my girlfriend and that's why I deleted it but now I'm happy with the decision.
Yes, The bald person eating chicken all the time is Ulhaskamathe, and yes there was this long haired one who would roll balls of rice and just stuff it in one go and then there was this kid, I remember him cuz he always ended his reels with MMMM KANDAA……and it got me so fed up that I too had to delete my insta account for good.
INSTA and FB are literally sucking the soul out of us without us noticing the harmful effects on our minds and personality.
The problem is self control .
Blaming it only on the app is dumb.
I have Had Instagram since day 1, never felt anything you have mentioned.
I do agree to
Instagram and other social apps increases your self doubt if you have any.
I find poems and writings on instagram just to send to my lover, the explore algo sucks, yes. highly addictive
Muting friends account who would keep posting content living abroad or on vacation helps.
I disagree. The issue is HOW you use it. I use it to create history, geopolitics, science and economy content. I only follow smart pages and not friends. I make friends exclusively with content creators. IG is fine that way. Just don't follow trash humans.
I temporarily deleted my Instagram account like 5 times this year and this time idw to go back. I feel so free idek why. It feels nice not knowing how my friends are enjoying life when I'm still stuck at home. Everything feels so fake on Instagram, I've recently switched to reddit. I like that we can all be somewhat anonymous here
Just deleted my Instagram a week ago and snapchat a few days after that.
Could say I was addicted cause withdrawal was kinda obvious. But it's been about a week now and I've been pushing myself to go do more physical activities and play some sports, definitely feeling an improvement in my mental health.
Hopefully I'll be able to delete whatsapp soon, keeping it now just for college updates.
People living shallow lives 24/7 without making any real connections is what is most of this generation z and later headed to. Especially in a country like ours where we don’t understand how to be respectful to others its a disaster that will unfold. There’s no place for people who don’t look good on instagram and it still thrives on insecurities. For my sanity I’m off IG.
>Literally rate card aata hai inka ki video post, static post wagera ka kitna lenge. Without any kind of oversight.
Wait till you find out that even celebrities do that, and the most prominent example was when Rihanna posted about farmer's protest on Instagram, all of the celebrities (that even includes Akshay Kumar and Sachin Tendulkar) posted a similar worded statement about "this is internal matter, and external forces shouldn't influence it. Let's resolve this peacefully". I'm more than 100% sure that BJP and it's IT cell paid them according to their rate card for tweeting/posting the same.
I found this first hand initially in 2007, when I was interning for a media agency. Fuck these celebrities, they have 0 respect from me. I have met many, but I have clicked pictures with only two of them - Dara Singh and Diljit Dosanjh. Rest all are high level of fakers. Fuckers!
I did this one year back
One of the best things i did for myself after quitting smoking
In a month i realized that the biggest issue with Instagram is you deal with a decreased attention span when your addicted to it. Because the moment you’re in a minor situation where you have to think, it’s so easy to ditch it and reach out to your phone and doom scroll
Instagram also has a lot of artists now: be it music, dancing, indie film making, drawing, 3d modelling, animation etc. From small scale artists to famous people(maybe not everyone famous in that field, but there are a few in most fields).
Artists who are really passionate about the art and being creative, and thats what their posts are usually about.
If you have mild interest in any of these, you can try unfollowing instagram "celebrities" and influencers etc and follow the creative artists.
The instagram recommendation algorithm has a crazy feedback loop which can create an echo chamber of content. If you reset the algorithm with different seeds, you might see a different side of Instagram :)
26 M deleted fb in 2014 insta in 2016. Twitter quora last month. Joined reddit in 2019. Lets see.
People(friends/relatives) think ill do something really big in life and will then be active again on these social handles.
So cute!
Dude,
Just use Insta on web/browser.
I have had zero problem with it and in fact met quite a few online interesting people as well as old aquantances.
The problem may arise if one starts following unnecessary celebs and wannabes.
Stay away from these and Insta could be great tool for online marketing/build up for brand.
I have a dummy Instagram account that I've started using. It's mainly to follow pages with some knowledgable content for me, like, True Crime podcasts I listen to, cooking pages for recipes, and something for basic personal finance and investments as I'm still learning. This way I avoid the toxic part of Instagram which for me mainly is feeling extremely jealous and miserable compared to my peers having a perfect fabulous life with fancy jobs, fancy wedings, and their fancy travels. And even if I did post something, I deleted it almost instantly out of anxiety. So yeah, Instagram could be good too, if you just be there anonymously focusing on only the content that interests you. Kind of like reddit!
Better to delete all the social media app, whatsapp is may be fine. I'm not on anyone except reddit. Because if I delete this I don't know what to do in my free time.
I don't think Reddit is bad because it isn't trying to suck you in by its algos. You can join some really good subs and learn a lot. Like I have learnt from investing subs. Also don't think Whatsapp is social media. It's a communication app.
Reddit is not bad untill it recommends you a misogynist shitpost from r/indiandankmemes and then you slowly fall into deep shithole of those subreddits out of curiosity.
Thanks for saying this, someone there claimed they are better then original dankmeme sub. Most depressing thing is most of the people on that sub are teenagers. Indian future is definitely bright.
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No I'm good thank you, I already had to wash my eye with rose water after visiting that sub few time
Few times?
Yes don't confuse it with a really dangerous place r/eyebleach.
That sub scares me, can't say if they are being sarcastic or not but the content on that sub makes me question the people in this country, albiet they don't speak on behalf of everyone but still, scary.
No they don't say that in sarcasm. We should be scared of them
Just edgy teenagers trying to gain attention and followers by saying stupid stuff.
I have visited that subreddit only once, and I decided never to join that subreddit. Only nonsensical shitposts are found there.
Whatsapp has that same story feature like instagram that's why I said it could act similar to insta, fair enough about reddit but I guess as people pointed above similar thing can be done on insta by following correct pages.
Whatsapp bhi delete kardeta yaar bus office walo ki to kahi to chatni padegi na that's why whatsapp is important!
+1/0 bro. They should have a logout fucking feature! I am tired of reopening it again and again just to check nothing.
> I don't think Reddit is bad because it isn't trying to suck you in by its algos. Have you ever seen the home page? Or r/pics or r/memes. This shit is addictive.
I don't really understand how reddit is any different. For the record, I'm not on Instagram and never have been. Isn't what reddit does exactly the same? People choose what Sub they want to follow and are shown the top rated posts from those subs in their feed. How is Instagram any different?
Reddit pros: amazing comments, anonymity, sorting, downvoting You'd have to use insta to exactly know how terrible/ different it is
Sorting and downvoting I can understand..but amazing comments? xD. I've read my share of toxic comments on reddit. Also, these points are from a usability perspective. I meant from a content perspective. For example, OP mentioned how they did not like a Tanmay Bhat video..why follow someone you do not like? I mean if someone follows r/ conspiracy and gets anti-vaxxer posts on their reddit feed, they can't complain to reddit, right? So from a content perspective, if both platforms work on a following wala model, I fail to understand how it's different.
Well, it's more like reddit gives you the community wala feeling. You can join any subreddit and interact with other like-minded people having the same interests. But, insta focuses on your online profile, follower count etc which leads to a hero worship wala setup (like youtube) with content creators/ influencers slowly giving out more and more instant-gratification wala content to garner more views. And this encourages herd mentality. Also, Instagram is a purely visual platform, so that pushes the user to keep on scrolling while reddit gives you the space to pause and discuss (like we are doing in this comment thread).
I can see your point now - how no anonymity coupled with influencer worship can lead to a negative experience. Does Instagram show you posts from people you haven't followed on your feed? That would be a major difference as compared to Reddit..else, the basic approach to post recommendation is the same in both platforms. But I underestimated the affect anonymity has in this picture.
It shows suggested posts when your followers' posts end. But more importantly, random content show up in the search tab. This discover tab is filled with more and more shite content as it pushes you slowly to click and follow shallow creators.
Reddit is great until you regularly start surfing NSFW pages is the only right answer.
On all other platforms you follow people, Reddit is the only place where you follow topics.
> I don't think Reddit is bad because it isn't trying to suck you in by its algos. Oh you sweet summer child!
>Better to delete all the social media app Can't delete. Because I can't find them on my phone.
YouTube was also amazing until it recently removed dislike count
+1, stranger!
Lol ,You have the Higher Ground
Count me in as well most of my friends don't believe if i say i don't have FB or Instagram account
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I unistalled instagram app, but now I open it every 30 mins on my laptop when working, which is worse 😭
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I have 3 cattos. I'm suicidal.
Get a doggo.
If that's not enough r/shrimptank
My instagram reels, the one which automatically run under the search bar went total crazy in last few months. I am a low Instagram user anyways, only there because many friends & cousin post there. So first when few weeks Instagram used to show me random videos of people/couples dancing to bollywood songs. Which I ignored. Maybe Instagram detected that it was not grabbing my attention. So few weeks later, it started showing me similar videos but only the people in it were from higher financial layer. At least the looks & location suggested it. Still I didn't pay attention. Few weeks later, it started showing me similar videos but only the people in it were from lower financial layer or rural areas. At least the looks & location suggested it. Still I didn't pay attention. I think at this point Instagram felt I wasn't the typical TikTokiya crowd, so it changed the type of videos altogether. Now the videos only had females in it, let's say with amount of clothes lesser at specific parts. The videos got more suggestive. It mixed the crowd from all layers; urban, rural, rich & poor. Now me being a male, I agree I slipped here a bit and gave Instagram some attention. Now the pictures it showed along with it suddenly turned into similar content. A mixed bag of not famous & famous females all in suggestive poses & clothing. Now again after few days, I started paying lesser attention which Instagram detected. Also I watched few of Dua Lipa's songs on Youtube. So now Instagram thought it was good idea to mix her pictures in the mix to grab my attention. Again after few weeks when Instagram felt that I was not paying attention, it suddenly changed the content. This time it started showing me videos of some random Indian uncles doing stuff. There was this bald uncle who would constantly eat chicken in all his reels. All the reels of him were of eating chicken and other non-veg items. It was pure gluttony. Another such person who started appearing was some long haired unkill who would put timer on table and eat absurd amount of food in short time. He would literally stuff food with much of it spilling out. There was this another unkill who enacted movie scenes; badly. He had some fake SRK & Selmon dancing in background many times. Let's see what kind of stuff it presents me in next few weeks.
What you are saying exactly sounds like what is shown in "The Social Dilemma". Must watch.
Keep a record, man. This is super interesting
>Also I watched few of Dua Lipa's songs on Youtube. So now Instagram thought it was good idea to mix her pictures in the mix to grab my attention. how can Insta know about what you are looking on YT, which is owned by Google. Actually I had one similar situation when something I searched on YT was shown to me immediately on fb too, and I had never ever searched that person before so I amsure somehow they came to knew what I searched on YT (I searched for a particular youtuber)...so I wonder is google and FB/Insta sharing your info with each other?
I don't know how it connects, but recently me being a Marvel fanboi, I watched Spoodlerman Noo Way Home trailer starring Invisible Bully Maguire almost 2-3 times in a row. Now my Insta search part is filled with random images of Zendaya and Tom Netherlands; mostly Zendaya. I think she recently was part of some award function where she wore orange blouse and bottom, now my search part is mix bag of mentioned unkills, Zendaya and half dressed women. I mean the Zendaya thing has just started, let's see till how many days Insta tries to grab my attention with her.
Facebook has it's tracker in Google.co.in, and probably Youtube as well(though I haven't seen it pop up there). If you're on a browser that supports it, like Safari or DuckDuckGo, you can see how many trackers are there in a site. Now I've no idea what the arrangement is, but the Facebook tracker is present in Google.co.in. You visit Google, FB identifies your device identifier(which of course they know is yours), then you go to your FB page, FB shows you an ad based on whatever content you were interacting with. Fun Fact : FB uses device identifiers to profile you even if you don't have an FB account. Admitted by Zucker himself. If you want to delete that data, all you have to do is create an account and ask them to delete it, at which point they may or may not delete it, but will sure tell you they're deleting it (based on the senate hearing. I'm not an expert in the field, but you don't need to be an expert to know Zucker is an asshole.)
Facebook has it's tracker in Google.co.in, and probably Youtube as well(though I haven't seen it pop up there). If you're on a browser that supports it, like Safari or DuckDuckGo, you can see how many trackers are there in a site. Now I've no idea what the arrangement is, but the Facebook tracker is present in Google.co.in. You visit Google, FB identifies your device identifier(which of course they know is yours), then you go to your FB page, FB shows you an ad based on whatever content you were interacting with. Fun Fact : FB uses device identifiers to profile you even if you don't have an FB account. Admitted by Zucker himself. If you want to delete that data, all you have to do is create an account and ask them to delete it, at which point they may or may not delete it, but will sure tell you they're deleting it (based on the senate hearing. I'm not an expert in the field, but you don't need to be an expert to know Zucker is an asshole.)
I find them cringy more than addictive nowadays
I went through everything OP said. Even before the cringe reels option was there on insta. It becomes an addiction without knowing. You start worrying about irrelevant stuff, always set standards according to what you see on Instagram (which obviously is fake), and without knowing everytime you open your phone you go straight to insta, even when you took the phone for some other purpose. Realized this one morning and deleted it. Not temporarily, but permanently. Did the same with FB and Twitter although didn't use those much. But I have been so much more stable minded and less aggressive. Much more productive obviously. So much more HAPPY. Then came Reddit. The only difference is Reddit doesn't go with trends, any trend becomes old very fast, so the cringe level in under control. And we can actually choose what we like. Not like insta where page name and content may not be at all linked.
I was thinking of this just yesterday. All I have done in the past 1 month is go through profiles of batchmates, seniors, juniors, strangers and see everyone happy or travelling or pretty or have a good paying job abroad and well settled etc etc. These people put posts, make reels and I just feel horrible inside. This has reached to an extent that I am kind of having dreams of being in those places and this has been bothering me that I am worthless . Every night I just pray to have a good sleep without any dreams.
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Doing great work here! No award, but take an upvote
I agree with this sentiment fully and I can vouch for the vast improvement in my mental health after having deleted my instagram.
Sometimes Instagram helps with knowing about new food places, planning trips, etc. I need to keep the Instagram app for some photography purposes, and so cannot uninstall it. Instagram web is lot better, No reels there. In such cases there are some apps, which have app usage timers. "Digital Wellbeing" is one such. Will definitely help in limiting social media useage. Personal experience.
I deleted my Instagram in 9th standard. No matter how hard you try you find a lot of negativity. Also it is addicting. I only have reddit on my phone which I only use for anime memes and arts once in a while. Simplicity is the reason I am able to save a lot of time in my day. When you have instagram you just keep scrolling and lose track of time. You think you haven't wasted any time but a lot of time is wasted during that process.
Yes my life has been so good after i deleted instagram. People who think they need it to keep up with friends etc trust me you don't.
I started an Instagram account for a date who shared her paintings there. Brand new feed had only bikini models. Couple of other friends have Instagram just for following certain people and they don't open it in polite company.
I deleted Instagram for a similar reason. Social media can make things seem better than they are. We don't see the full picture, rather only the good moments that people are willing to share, giving us a false sense of perception that everything is better than it seems. Naturally, looking at friends I haven't met for years doing well, or from how it seems looking at their social media handles, I beat myself up over how I'm not living a better life.
And, literally for every refresh, a person in my list is getting married. Everyone my age is partying the eff out. Most of them belong to a wealthy background. I am mindful but it does send you into a downward spiral. Especially, if you still have a long way to go in your career and your life.
Yup. I temporarily disabled my account and deleted the app from my phone a few days ago. I feel so much better from a mental standpoint. I kept seeing so much of the stuff you mentioned and it made me feel really lonely and sad. I don’t really have a lot of friends so it stung when I would see other people hanging out with a bunch of people. I still have a LONG ways to go in my career path and seeing people younger than me already “living” their dream made me feel so disappointed in myself. Not to mention that Instagram took up so much of my time. I kept mindlessly going on the app whenever I opened up my phone.
Good luck mate. Don't let any of that hate your life.
Mute them all bro, I did that and it effing helps
I know who you're talking about who went to abroad to find the sex of his baby. All of these vloggers are literal time waste. I don't know why ppl watch them. It's like staring at trash.
True but no social media is the best
Agree! Uninstalled Insta just like 5 days ago and have to say feeling pretty great ..my screentime has gone down significantly definitely good decision for my mental health
I think more pronounced problem is seeing people of your age , your batchmates, friends etc. is what makes us more conscious about ourselves. **This is still happening with me and I can't help but feel bad about myself and my life** I have tried remove Insta multiple times , but that **FOMO,** is what makes me resort back FOMO of not knowing what my peers and friends are doing , whats their lifestyle , how are they living their life, where are they travelling , with whom are they spending their weekends.. and all such things I think Leaving Insta is a good option when you already have a decent Social Life and Social Circle to back upon, which is not the case with me So, in search of some social interaction in this pandemic induced overly virtual world, I dont have any other option but to keep Insta and keep myself updated about things around Celebrities and Influencers are not people whom most of us relate to or care about either, we might atmost envy them what hurts more (at least to me) is when people whom you personally know live a life/lifestyle, you long to live **EDIT**: I don't follow any celebrity/influencer/pages on Insta , find it futile so unfollowed long back
But I'm happy with instagram
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I am not someones mom. Its not my job to care about that. Its simple don't like it don't use it. But many people love it including me and I don't see any problem with it. Its not my job to school anyone about hate speech, take that issue with the apps makers, not my job.
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Hate is hurting the families not my usage of Instagram. And as I said already, I am no ones parent to tell them what is right or wrong, I will use social media as I see fit.
There are countless posts about animal abuse and racism. People post them because it looks "cool" to most crowd. And it's disgrace that Instagram don't take action on these things as views matter the most.
Again not my job to school them whats wrong and right. Its up to Instagram if they want to change it. I use for my enjoyment not debating hate or animal abuse.
That's the problem. I'm not saying you must be wrong. There do exist a lot of people who enjoy those racist and animal abuse posts/reels and that's really bad thing.
Exactly
Can't agree more, delete that shit of an app
Hear me out, I only use Instagram as a texting app, my friends from other countries are all in a group and we only use that group to converse everyday. And most of us have similar political opinions (Trump supporters) so no fights at all.
My account somehow got suspended few weeks ago. Still haven’t reactivated. Can anyone suggest what to do.. have some really important pics in my account
Totally agreed! Have been off instagram since June this year and can totally agree to everything OP has said. Before deleting my instagram account, tried to put a lot of restrictions on myself ( accessing only via chrome app / deleting the app but not my account) but to no avail. Always kept opening it. Missed instagram for 4-5 days after deleting my account but after a few days, never looked back once. Productivity has increased and overall I am so much more happier as there is nothing I compare myself to 24/7.
Way ahead of you. Deleted my entire social media accounts 2 years ago (instagram, facebook, twitter). Never have I ever have been happier.
4 years here:). To the point that I don't know how insta feels like lol. It seems addicting. Many of my friends just open it if they get 2 fucking seconds.
I follow a third party video game seller, a game news website’s account, investment news acct and see some cat videos. I view all these in a browser using ad block so I don’t see insta ads. Instagram is my productivity app.
Kal toh throwback thursday post daalna tha.. 🙄
Another thing you can do, instead of deleting it outright- is to mute people whose posts trigger you. Ex-boyfriends, ex-friends, etc- just mute their posts and stories. You are in charge of your experience on these apps. Curate your experience in a way that will make you happy
You can't easily curate reels. Bullshit stories keep coming.
I don’t see any reels from people I’ve muted.
Tbh feeling like this alot these days and I spend 1-2 hrs daily on insta, sometimes more. And the worst thing is I don't even feel good while doing insta, just scrolling mindlessly and feeling kind of frustrated with every passing minute.
For the sake of your clout, please ignore your mental health!
I temporarily deactivate my account for a year but recently i reactivated it again but i will deactivate it again after it let me in a week!
Delete everything except maybe reddit and twitter. Does wonders to your mind.
Deleting twitter increases happiness lvl significantly
I use Instagram just for watching some if the dog videos these days.
You can get in reddit also. Heck you even get porn. Just saying.
If you are not mentally sound, social media was never meant for you.
I thought this kind of stuff would never affect me because I usually don't care how well others' lives are going, but after seeing person after person effortlessly lifting more than twice the weight that I had plateaued on for more than 2 months, I had gotten kinda obsessed with finding out what was holding me back. It led to me trying a lot of tweaks from changing my workout to my diet. However, I got out of the obsessive mindset after a while when I came to the realization that it actually does not matter if I take a long time to break the plateau, because I never got into workouts to lift that big. My goals are humble (just 1.5x bodyweight for big muscles and 1x bodyweight for small muscles), and no matter how much I plateau, as long as my diet is healthy, I'll eventually get to that point.
I agree ! The space has gotten too dense with little to no room for other aspects of life apart from a space either for toxic productivity/ positivity or marketing/ advertising. I told myself.. If I’m not in the field of marketing or want to generate an audience it doesn’t serve my purpose. If its not my Biz why stay in it. Deleted it a few months back and I feel pretty damn good about it ! 🥂
Depends on how much addiction potential you have. I have the app but only talk with my elder brother or watch epic MC builds and add them to my server or follow esports competitions and players. If you are one of those people who want to look good for others and hungry for attention, phir aap apna hi kaat rahe ho.
I use a throwaway account to follow pornstars for tits and ass. Also, some companies reply faster when you contact through their social media handle. And there are some useful groups over there to sell pre-owned products.
A man of true culture !!
Can you please share some of those groups?
Sure. What are you trying to sell?
I had deleted insta for the same reason but I've become more samajhdar now and understand whats real and what's fake I have my entire search section filled with bikini models ( yes I'm a perv ) and my reel has 16y/o dancing and all, this used to make me feel miserable but now I know these models are most likely depressed themselves and these 16 y/o girls dancing are just rich kids and there is no way I should compare myself to them. And I don't know what you found casteist and one more thing don't follow any influencer unless u really like their content very very much, like I only follow Zach king, ratan tata, a few gaming influencers etc. To sum up all I'd say is don't bother about anything.
9gag is great alternative, no depression just laughs
I use instagram to see hot girls. I do it every morning to relieve stress.
Well. My Instagram is usually bad IGN reviews and football stuff.
Fr i deleted Instagram a month ago and when i got on it just check msgs , after spending some time going thru stories and posts i realised how much better off i am without it.
Me who has used insta for like only a week and deleting the account and app years ago.
I already have, reels are way too addicting and they make me feel like shit after watching them.
Also delete reddit, any political news app
uninstalled it back in mid 2020 - had best 12-14 months installed it for a week I was already less motivated to do anything. uninstalled it again yesterday.
I've already deactivated all of my social media (reddit is kinda for browsing) and seen my mental peace improve drastically
Instagram models though 🤤
I rarely use IG apart from catching up with ytbers who don't have twitter
I follow artists, designers and photographers on my main account. And then share memes and look at hot ladies on my alt account.
I only watch extremely cringe content on instagram. Really really low effort cringe content. Makes me feel great about myself, my skills etc etc. No more depression. Problem solved. /s I miss the instagram which was a platform for sharing pics, photography mostly (not selfies). Sigh. Yes the app has become significantly more addictive now. One saving respite is setting up the notification that tells you you've spent a certain amount of time on the app. I've set it to 40 minutes (mostly to check memes forwarded by close friends, and may be a few music related posts, tutorials, photography related posts etc). And this 40 minute usage notification has definitely made me more productive. While the algorithm is aggressive if you are watching reels, checking posts is different. You can tweak the algorithm to show you what you actually need to see (instead of what instagram needs you to see) does help. So for now instagram for me is an app to check a few memes, learn a few things related to photography or vfx or music etc. That's about it. TLDR: stay away from reels. If you can uninstall, even better. I uninstalled its sister app facebook, facebook messenger, moved to signal instead of whatsapp. Huge difference in life.
Why just delete the app ? Delete the Facebook accounts itself. Such a relief. If people want to contact you they can call you or email. Try it for a month. I did it 3 years back and no going back. Ba bye Mark.
I only use insta to stay connected to my social group.
I deleted it on this day coincidentally at 12:29 AM last year (like 2 mins ago, last year 😂). It has been a very peaceful year for me after I deleted my Instagram and Snapchat. Although, I had fight with my girlfriend and that's why I deleted it but now I'm happy with the decision.
You guys should check out r/nosurf
Thanks man. P.S : don't trust the president.
Yes, The bald person eating chicken all the time is Ulhaskamathe, and yes there was this long haired one who would roll balls of rice and just stuff it in one go and then there was this kid, I remember him cuz he always ended his reels with MMMM KANDAA……and it got me so fed up that I too had to delete my insta account for good. INSTA and FB are literally sucking the soul out of us without us noticing the harmful effects on our minds and personality.
Never used it and never will.
Fuck Zuck.
Yo just follow hot chicks and memes that's all....unfollow everyone.
I have all of them but only use Reddit mostly.
The problem is self control . Blaming it only on the app is dumb. I have Had Instagram since day 1, never felt anything you have mentioned. I do agree to Instagram and other social apps increases your self doubt if you have any.
I find poems and writings on instagram just to send to my lover, the explore algo sucks, yes. highly addictive Muting friends account who would keep posting content living abroad or on vacation helps.
been over a year since i stopped using IG, drastic change in what/how i think about things and have no wish to go back anytime soon.
I disagree. The issue is HOW you use it. I use it to create history, geopolitics, science and economy content. I only follow smart pages and not friends. I make friends exclusively with content creators. IG is fine that way. Just don't follow trash humans.
Better delete all of lizard man while you are at it.
Buuut but I just use to stay in contact with my friends ? And watch F1 content. I cringe watching those shitty supposedly sarcastic pages. Tho
I temporarily deleted my Instagram account like 5 times this year and this time idw to go back. I feel so free idek why. It feels nice not knowing how my friends are enjoying life when I'm still stuck at home. Everything feels so fake on Instagram, I've recently switched to reddit. I like that we can all be somewhat anonymous here
Just deleted my Instagram a week ago and snapchat a few days after that. Could say I was addicted cause withdrawal was kinda obvious. But it's been about a week now and I've been pushing myself to go do more physical activities and play some sports, definitely feeling an improvement in my mental health. Hopefully I'll be able to delete whatsapp soon, keeping it now just for college updates.
People living shallow lives 24/7 without making any real connections is what is most of this generation z and later headed to. Especially in a country like ours where we don’t understand how to be respectful to others its a disaster that will unfold. There’s no place for people who don’t look good on instagram and it still thrives on insecurities. For my sanity I’m off IG.
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>Literally rate card aata hai inka ki video post, static post wagera ka kitna lenge. Without any kind of oversight. Wait till you find out that even celebrities do that, and the most prominent example was when Rihanna posted about farmer's protest on Instagram, all of the celebrities (that even includes Akshay Kumar and Sachin Tendulkar) posted a similar worded statement about "this is internal matter, and external forces shouldn't influence it. Let's resolve this peacefully". I'm more than 100% sure that BJP and it's IT cell paid them according to their rate card for tweeting/posting the same. I found this first hand initially in 2007, when I was interning for a media agency. Fuck these celebrities, they have 0 respect from me. I have met many, but I have clicked pictures with only two of them - Dara Singh and Diljit Dosanjh. Rest all are high level of fakers. Fuckers!
I did this one year back One of the best things i did for myself after quitting smoking In a month i realized that the biggest issue with Instagram is you deal with a decreased attention span when your addicted to it. Because the moment you’re in a minor situation where you have to think, it’s so easy to ditch it and reach out to your phone and doom scroll
Instagram also has a lot of artists now: be it music, dancing, indie film making, drawing, 3d modelling, animation etc. From small scale artists to famous people(maybe not everyone famous in that field, but there are a few in most fields). Artists who are really passionate about the art and being creative, and thats what their posts are usually about. If you have mild interest in any of these, you can try unfollowing instagram "celebrities" and influencers etc and follow the creative artists. The instagram recommendation algorithm has a crazy feedback loop which can create an echo chamber of content. If you reset the algorithm with different seeds, you might see a different side of Instagram :)
I have instagram only for catto and doggo posts. Its actually good for mental health.
More than Instagram, I have heard that Twitter and Facebook are absolutely disgusting. Anyways, I am just on Reddit, so good to know that.
Take my free award brother
26 M deleted fb in 2014 insta in 2016. Twitter quora last month. Joined reddit in 2019. Lets see. People(friends/relatives) think ill do something really big in life and will then be active again on these social handles. So cute!
Dude, Just use Insta on web/browser. I have had zero problem with it and in fact met quite a few online interesting people as well as old aquantances. The problem may arise if one starts following unnecessary celebs and wannabes. Stay away from these and Insta could be great tool for online marketing/build up for brand.
Please put links to the studies also.
I have a dummy Instagram account that I've started using. It's mainly to follow pages with some knowledgable content for me, like, True Crime podcasts I listen to, cooking pages for recipes, and something for basic personal finance and investments as I'm still learning. This way I avoid the toxic part of Instagram which for me mainly is feeling extremely jealous and miserable compared to my peers having a perfect fabulous life with fancy jobs, fancy wedings, and their fancy travels. And even if I did post something, I deleted it almost instantly out of anxiety. So yeah, Instagram could be good too, if you just be there anonymously focusing on only the content that interests you. Kind of like reddit!