So I've deleted my Instagram account...now what?

Do you believe in life after likes?

I created my Instagram account in December 2010…

* Looks into the horizon with a “Here comes a flashback” pose...*

I remember it perfectly: I was 20, at my grandparent’s for Christmas. With the fruits of my hard work (lol) as a retail sales assistant that summer, I had just bought my first ever smartphone by accident (all I wanted was to finally afford an iPod but the lady at the counter talked me into this new thing called iPhone 3G…). Boredom got the best of me during that Christmas family gathering, and I decided to look at the App Store and download some of the apps ranking first on the trend list. Instagram was one of them. I was reluctant: I had been fashion-blogging on Blogspot for the last two years - GUYS, REMEMBER THE DAYS?? - and that new Instagram app was a short-form menace getting closer and closer... There was this sort of Video killed the radio star feeling in the air for all of us OG Bloggers, but still, I was curious and excited. Or maybe just tipsy. Who knows. 🦐

That night after getting in bed, unable to sleep due to a food coma that can only be attributed to Spanish Christmas and the Molotov cocktail that is my lack of boundaries with delicious food, I indulged in my first ever doom scroll in bed. I recall going to sleep hours later with an ominous feeling: overwhelmed, insecure about my career✨ iN tHe BlOgOsPhErE ✨, overstimulated with new possibilities but also paralysed by choice.

This was my first ever photo on Instagram!

14 years and 12.6K followers later, that feeling never really left me. Lately, the constant scrolling, comparison, and validation-seeking on Instagram has taken a toll on my mental health. I have found myself spending hours mindlessly scrolling through feeds I wasn’t even following, unable to resist the siren call of the Explore page and questioning my worth, my creativity, and even my physical appearance (!!!) based on likes, comments, and engagement.