How to Break Free from Instagram Addiction: A Simple Time-Saving Strategy

In today's fast-paced, digitally-driven world, finding a balance between staying connected and maintaining mental and physical health can be challenging, especially for cancer survivors, highly sensitive people, and others who are navigating recovery managing chronic fatigue and depression. Social media platforms like Instagram can be a double-edged sword, offering connection and distraction.

The only social media app I use on my phone right now is Instagram. Sometimes, I go there for one specific thing, but as soon as I open it up, something else takes my attention away. Then a big chunk of time has gone by, before I realize what I was there for in the first place. This happens all the time. Even though I try to be mindful and not going down the rabbit hole, it happens every time.

Instagram is designed to be addictive. There is a documentary on social media and addresses this very issue. Even the creators aren’t immune to this addiction. So we have to find a way to manage our use, because willpower isn’t going to do it.

Aside from the obvious choice of deleting Instagram or the app you're addicted to, I've found that using an app called ScreenZen, to manage screen time has been incredibly effective.

The Focus setting on iPhones is handy in setting up focus times and locations and you can limit use on certain apps of your choosing, but it lacks the features that ScreenZen offers.

You can set ScreenZen to have a question prompted on the screen when you open one of your social media apps like, “Is this important?”, “Why am I checking?” or you can customize your own. If you decide to unlock it anyway, you can have a setting for a 5-second to 300-second countdown. Half of the time, I swipe off Instagram before the countdown is over. This is counted as a skip.

With each consecutive day that you fall within the limits you set for yourself, it adds to your streak. Seeing the stats for skips and consecutive streaks is surprisingly rewarding.

My allowed settings are 5 opens a day, 7 minutes each.

I recently found a new feature just through writing this article. I wasn’t looking for something else to make it more effective, it already works well. You can add a breathing exercise, I chose a minimum of 12 seconds.

So when I choose to unlock it, ScreenZen has me wait for 5 seconds, then prompts me do a breathing exercise: to inhale for 4 seconds, hold for another 4, and exhale for the last four seconds. I really like this feature so far.

And if you do need to be on Instagram, say for work purposes, then use a computer. It has a less addictive nature than using your phone.