Juliana Moves

…Just the app. For now. 

If you’ve been reading my blog long enough, you are aware of the fact that I have attempted to reduce my screen time many, many times. I’ve used app limits with varying levels of success. I’ve even considered buying a Brick or an Opal subscription to cut off my Instagram addiction.

Because, like the millennial I am, Instagram was my problem. I never got a TikTok (thank god), and I deleted Twitter a while back, so I mostly surfed through Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest. 

A couple weeks ago, I finally worked up the nerve to delete my Instagram app. I could feel my brain melting. The app limit notification has a convenient option to ignore it for 15 minutes, and I clicked that option too many times. I thought I would feel withdrawals (lol) and feel super out of the loop, but that has not been the case. If anything, I feel like I have more mental bandwidth to pay attention to other things – whether that be a podcast, book, conversations, or… wait for it… the news! Crazy!

It’s almost like you can absorb things more deeply when your neurons aren’t overwhelmed by the algorithm’s stimuli. Yesterday I was listening to a podcast where they referred to trying to spend less time on the “fast internet” and instead using that time on the “slow internet”. I liked that.

I’m still on the internet for sure. I haven’t fully kicked the need to scroll and now spend a stupid amount of time on Facebook (of all things), but it’s overall less than it was before. I give myself some grace because I am trying and multiple groups I am part of actually use Facebook for updates.

I love that I actually feel creative inspiration or seasonal awe when I am on Pinterest. I love that I am spending more time and effort on my blog. If I get the itch for screentime, I text someone. Or play sudoku or do my Duolingo for the day.

Before I deleted my Instagram app, I worried that people would want to know what I was up to and be at a loss for that information!!! First, that concern was a pretty definite example of how social media warps our minds. And second, they can always read here! On the slow internet. 😉 The people that actually care about me the most know how to reach me anyway and vice versa.

In reflecting on this experience, it’s easy to feel really dumb about it. Congratulations, Juliana, you deleted an app off your phone. Big whoop. But to see it that way is to ignore the state of society’s relationship with the internet and social media. It IS a big whoop! One that I hope others will attempt. It’s fun! And quieter. And slower.

All of that sounds pretty good right about now.

Love,

JN