10 Things I Learned When Instagram was Down
Disclosure: This illustration was created based off a screenshot of an Instagram profile. The artist did not get distracted by Instagram while creating this illustration.
Whether you use Instagram for business or personal reasons, we all do the same thing once we wake in the morning. Unless you're that really disciplined person who has a whole morning routine down, good for you. This post isn’t for you then. But for the rest of us, the majority of Instagram users (there’s approximately 1.074 million active users), we struggle. I’ve managed to get into the habit of not logging into Instagram first thing in the morning, but I do check in once I start my work day aaand I’ve come to find that it isn’t the ideal way to, not just start my morning, but it’s not the ideal way to start my work day either. Here are 10 things I learned when Instagram was down:
So I concluded that Instagram is not the best way to start my work day because IT’S A TIME SUCK!
I always felt like I had so many distractions in my life. I formed a mental list long ago of those distractions and I put social media low on that list. I’m not active on Facebook or Twitter. I’ve slowed my roll on Pinterest. So really Instagram was the only social platform that took my time. BUT I considered my kids, keeping a home, watching Netflix, running errands, even having a social life to be more distracting than Instagram. Wow, my priorities.
Instagram has ALL the features to optimize your content creating work, but it’s a trap. I use several apps to make various content like Instories to make my Reels. I was starting to think paying for a subscription was a waste because you can make Reels right in Instagram. So far the only difference to make Reels in Instagram is being able to clip a video to less that 2 seconds. When I go to make Reels on IG, I always, without fail get distracted by that ever so tantalizing feed that only shows 10 accounts out of the 678 that I follow, spending 20 minutes (okay, that seems generous) scrolling to check in on those 10 accounts that the algorithm decided for me and going down that rabbit hole of the suggested search page (okay, it’s probably 56 minutes wasted) before I even tap of that Reel button to make my Reel.
Instagram fries my brain! I was actually focused and was able to stay on track. I was shooketh!
I studied. I opened a textbook (the second edition of Fashion Drawing: Illustration techniques for fashion designers by Michele Wesen Bryant) and read the section on drawing hands, highlighted sentences, took notes, and did the exercise on drawing fashion illustrated hands in various poses.
I did six sketches. In addition to the sketches of hands for that textbook exercise. By the sixth sketch, I was like, “Omg, that’s a finished piece!” Practice does make perfect and seeing it play out in real life blew my mind. Side note: You’re probably thinking that as an artist, I should’ve had this figured out long ago like in university perhaps. Sketching was always a difficult habit for me to develop. I made all sorts of excuses why I couldn’t sketch, one being that I didn’t have time. It only took Instagram to crash for me to see that I did, in fact, have the time.
I had so much time to practice yesterday that I devoted some of that time to playing the piano. It’s been a long time since I tickled those ivory keys. Who said that? What a weird saying and no my piano is not made with ivory. My reasons for not practicing the piano were piled high with the same excuses as to why I didn’t sketch. It felt good to get back into another one of my creative loves and it particularly felt good to play Muzio Clementi’s Sonatina Op. 36, No. 1. Just the first movement though. And most definitely not at the tempo I’m a bit rusty. Also, when listening to Clementi’s sonatina, I’m like Uncle Phil in the second episode of The Fresh Prince of Bel Air when the family was sitting around listening to the Brandenburg Concerto during high tea. My heart explodes in joy. That’s something new you’re learning about me -- I’m a nerd about orchestral music.
Instagram is my highest usage of screen time. Oh do I dare reveal to you the stats? Last week, I had 10 hours and 52 minutes of screen time. Seven hours of it went to Instagram, with a daily average of one and a half hours to spent on Instagram. All that screen time means a lot of exposure to blue light and I for sure am prone to the effects of blue light. Yesterday, I only had a total of 2 hours and 33 minutes of screen time with Audible being my highest usage at 44 minutes. I didn’t struggle with dry eyes, fatigue or crankiness. Yes, I’m admitting I get cranky because as parents we sure love telling our kids they get cranky with too much screen time, but we don’t take it seriously for our own well being.
My left hand hurts from all the drawing, writing, typing, and piano playing I did. As a multi-hyphenate creative, a sore hand means I haven’t been using my most important tool and that’s kind of sad. It’s like when you’re sore after doing ten push ups cause you haven’t worked out in ages. I’m still working to 10 push ups without dropping my core so no judgement. But if something is important to you or, in my case, is your career and whole life, you think you’d spend consistent time strengthening those muscles to stay at the top of your game?! Yesterday really revealed how mixed up my priorities were.
I know I can’t cut out Instagram completely out of my life, but being away from it for one day helped me step away from the expectations of how I should use Instagram, comparing myself to others, and what my work day really entails. Instagram doesn’t need to be such a big part of my work day. So I’m reevaluating what my work requires and how to execute my ideal work day because I loved the amount of time I put into drawing and getting to play the piano. Also also, my ultimate favorite part of day was having lunch with my daughter and we laughed and played silly games. I was present for every part of my day and that’s what made it a perfect day.
I hope this gives you some insight into how much time we put into things that aren’t important to us. How did you spend your day off of Instagram? Did you gain any new insights by not being to attached to your phone?
If you want to know about the Facebook and Instagram outage, you can read about it here.
