I had a habit of opening Instagram every few minutes. I was very close to being an Instagram addict. I had to find a solution on how to stop using Instagram. I needed a solution where I don’t need to quit Instagram altogether. I also didn’t want to leave my DMs hanging throughout the day. But I really wanted to find how to hide the Instagram explore page, which was the main place I wasted time. I was successful in finding a solution satisfying all these 3 things.
After looking through my App Usage analytics before and after implementing the below-mentioned technique, I found out that two-thirds of my time on Instagram was not deliberate use. It was either the explore page or Instagram reels that made me almost an addict. My 5 minutes turned to 15 and then to 30 for each session. And I had multiple such sessions per day. Below you will find how I went from 1 hour on Instagram to 20 minutes without compromising on the value I was getting from Instagram. I have written about how to not let Instagram and other social media apps ruin your productivity.
Instagram is one of the biggest productivity killers & distractors of our generation. Once I open Instagram I go down the rabbit hole of Explore page. And recently Instagram introduced reels. The reels are so addictive. You just don’t want to stop once you start watching. Instagram Reels wastes so much time. Even while scrolling we know we are wasting time, but we think one more, one more and it wastes another 15 minutes. This wastage of time wouldn’t be that big of a deal, if it was a once in a day thing, because it is just 15 minutes. But this happens multiple times a day. This not only wastes time but spoils the flow you were in while working on something productive and important.
I had to find out how to get rid of Instagram addiction. I had to find out why I am always on Instagram. Why am I not able to focus on the task at hand? Researching these things also led me to find out how to increase productivity and become self-disciplined.
How Instagram ruined my productivity?
What I used to do was, just before an everyday chore like bathing or a meal or something similar I would think, I wanna do something fun and so I would go on my phone searching for an app for a burst of dopamine. More often than not I would end up on Instagram, thinking maybe there is something new somebody posted. Obviously, there is nothing new in the last 10 minutes. So I will click on the explore page. And then my fingers will automatically click on one of the Reels leading to another 15 minutes being wasted. Even if this happens 4–5 times during the day (which it seldom was), I would be wasting upwards of 1 hour every day of mindless scrolling on Instagram. That is upwards of 400 hours wasted per year just scrolling Instagram unnecessarily. I am not saying I shouldn’t be using Instagram ever. I am just saying that I want to use Instagram deliberately, not because I want a distraction for 5 minutes, or because my brain craves dopamine. Because more often than not, this 5 minutes turns to 30 minutes and then I get frustrated for not being productive.
Instagram makes everything else boring
When waiting for something or someone I would just stumble upon Instagram magically and mindlessly start scrolling through it. I realized, while we are with other people, using Instagram sends the wrong signals. Seeing you on your phone would make other people think you are busy or you are ignoring them or they are boring you. But most importantly, scrolling through Instagram is entertaining and hence it produces dopamine and when you return to the task at hand it feels mundane because you already got your (fake) high from Instagram, where you could just scroll through if something was boring or not entertaining but in real life, you can’t. As time goes on Instagram will learn you and eventually will only show you content that is entertaining to you. Real-life wouldn’t be able to do it and you will find everything else boring and would want to escape everything around you. You will find solace in Instagram when you are craving distraction and slowly you will become addicted to the platform.
How does social media trick your brain?
Social media gives you short term rewards (like small laughs or some relatable content) which releases dopamine, which makes your brain want to do that more. That is an endless cycle. Even your work is rewarding, but the reward takes time (often years before you see progress), you need to work hard for it. Rewards from Instagram and other social media are instant. They are not actually a good reward, it is just tricking your brain into thinking, it is making you happy, it makes you think it is rewarding but in reality, Instagram is just wasting your time, it is just killing your productivity.
How to not let Instagram harm your productivity?
I came up with a solution to beat this. I decided whenever I am bored or I need a break or I just want a distraction, I will do literally nothing. I know this concept is so hard to understand. Doing nothing. We always want to do something, be it productive like reading or not productive like Instagram (if doing nothing doesn’t feel okay to you, do some fun task like making a coffee). But I decided that that’s what I will do. I will keep my phone aside and I will just stare into space. I thought I will still waste those 5 minutes there but won’t be mindlessly scrolling through Instagram, taking away my attention from the task at hand. I did find this to be true later, but something else happened too, which was a game-changer.
You might have noticed that when you are doing things that don’t use up your brain that much, you have the most creative ideas, like when you are taking a bath or driving? The same thing happened here. As my brain wasn’t occupied with anything for those few minutes when I needed a distraction, I realized the reality. I realized that I ought to be working on something important. I realized I ought to be working on something that matters. I made the right decisions because I had time to think about it. This was the best thing that ever happened to me.
But I didn’t want to stop using Instagram completely. I still wanted to know what was going on.
Using Instagram only once a day
I thought why not just limit the usage of Instagram to once a day. I can take as much time as I want but I have to get it over within one go. This will help me not get distracted while I am working.
I started doing this only 4 weeks ago and the days feel awesome already. Just before I found this technique I was looking at my Android’s usage statistics where I could see that Instagram and some of the news apps were the only ones where I was usually wasting time. I thought of uninstalling them from my device but soon realized they wouldn’t be a problem if I only used them once a day. This did come out to be true. My Instagram usage before I started this was upwards of 1 hr per day, but after this when I was just using it once, my usage dropped dramatically to a max of 20 minutes per day. I was still seeing all the stories & posts from everybody I followed. The only thing I stopped was looking at the explore page. I realized that I was spending two-thirds of the time just on the explore page and on reels which I didn’t really want. I was getting the same value out of the app for one-third of the time spent. This extra 40 minutes per day could now be spent on something productive like reading.
How to limit Instagram usage to increase productivity?
Limiting my usage was easy. I just had to add Instagram and other apps I didn’t want to use throughout the day to Focus mode in Android. I would keep the focus mode on throughout the day and just switch it off during the time I had set to use those apps. This also blocks notifications from those apps which is a good and a bad thing. Good because it won’t distract me and keep bugging me. But bad because I did want to see the DMs on Instagram if I received something. I found a solution to this.
Using Instagram Threads to decrease distraction
Instagram made an app called Threads which is almost an exact copy of Snapchat (to of course steal the Snapchat user base). Threads brings out the DMs from Instagram to a separate app. This was the app that was a reason I could stick onto the newfound method of using Insta. During the day, I sometimes had to send a message to someone on Instagram DM and for that, I had to open Instagram which was a hassle and so sometimes I would just remove the focus mode entirely and then forget to turn it back on. Then I realized I could just use Threads to chat with people on Instagram. Chatting for me wasn’t a big distraction, I didn’t want to block it. But if for you it is a problem, you would be better off not using Threads.
Side note: While waiting for someone in a line, there is nothing productive we can do. So initially it seemed to me that using Instagram during that time is okay. But I realized after a week or so that it is not. It just gives me fake highs (dopamine) which makes everything else boring in the real world. So I stopped using Instagram even when it is absolutely fine to use it. It might be different for you though.
How to hide explore page on Instagram?
I also found a way to hide the explore page entirely, so that I don’t click it by mistake. But sadly it only works on desktop browsers and so it didn’t work out for me. If it is convenient for you to use Instagram on your desktop, you can do this by any ad blocker app. I am using AdBlock to do it.
- Go to AdBlock settings (chrome-extension://gighmmpiobklfepjocnamgkkbiglidom/options.html)
- Click “Customize” on the left menu bar
- Scroll down to “Manually edit your filters” and click “Edit”
- Copy “www.instagram.com##A[href="/explore/"]” and paste it at the end of all the text (image provided below for your reference).
- Click Save.
- Go to instagram.com and check for yourself. The explore icon will not be visible anymore (image provided below for your reference).
Blocking Instagram may lead to other distractions
Blocking Instagram won’t magically improve your productivity. Your brain will start finding other ways to find a distraction. It can be other apps or something in the real world like cleaning your space. Initially, every time I had an urge to use my mobile when I was bored, I would just sit in the app drawer and hunt for apps. Basically, I tried to find a distraction. But then I realized what I can do, I could look away from the screen for just 1 minute. That is all it takes, 1 minute. I will ask myself do I have any specific use for my mobile right now, or am I just looking for a distraction? If the answer is “just a distraction” I will keep the mobile aside. That’s it. But the most important thing is to look away from the screen. I have noticed that mobile and desktop screens have something that captivates your attention to it, it is hard to think about something out of it when you are looking at it.
The results
I found myself interested a bit more in many of the day to day tasks than before because I did not get my dopamine or high from Instagram at the start of the day. I started taking more time in losing interest in the task at hand or getting bored. I also found myself procrastinating less. My productivity was visibly high. This was all because I had fewer pockets of distraction during the day.
Before implementing the technique, every day, at the end of the day I had this feeling that I didn’t do anything worthwhile today. Sometimes this feeling was in the back of my head, sometimes it was highlighted so much that it was the only thing I could think about. But after I started using Instagram only at the set time I did not have this constant feeling in my head that “I am useless” or “I can’t do anything”. As there was less distraction, I was able to achieve more than before.
The first few days after deciding to just open insta only at a set time of day, my fingers automatically clicked the Instagram icon whenever I was free or bored or waiting in a line. The digital wellbeing pop up came up and asked me if I am sure that I want to open the app. Only this small message reminded me that I have decided to not open the app at this time and I almost always chose not to open it. After a day or two, whenever my fingers went onto the app icon, I would realize what I was going to do just before clicking it, smile to myself and then keep my phone aside. And now after two weeks of practising not to use Instagram during the day, I don’t do that anymore. Whenever I am bored or need a distraction, I would keep my phone aside, stare into space. More often than not this will lead me right back to the task at hand saving ample time.
I have tried blocking apps, limiting app times, uninstalling apps and many other techniques in the past. Nothing has given me this good result. Clubbing usage time is the best thing that has happened to my productivity.
Instagram’s sole purpose is to trap you in their app and never let you leave. But it held me so tight that I got suffocated and had to escape. Like me, there would be more people who would realize this. Do you think it is a big loose on Instagram’s part, a big loose on Instagram’s algorithms?
End Statement
Using this technique helped me in achieving greater productivity and decreasing the number of distractions throughout the day. Clubbing usage of Instagram and News apps has turned out to be the greatest thing that ever happened to me.
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