Hello, book nerds!
For years, I’ve had two Instagram accounts. One for my bookish content, and a personal one that I made in 2014 as I was starting my freshman year of college.
After 10 years of daily Instagram scrolling, I finally decided it was time for it to go. I am keeping my book account, though, for a few reasons that I’ll get to.
I feel like many of us talk about reducing our screen time or spending less time doom scrolling. But as with any diet, it’s hard to maintain long term. I’ve had bouts before of deleting the app (I always redownload it), removing the app from my home screen (I would find it anyway), or setting time limits (I would just hit ‘ignore’). So I finally asked myself, “What if there just wasn’t anything there for me to log into anymore?”
So after scrolling through my account and reminiscing on the pictures I’ve posted, I finally pulled the trigger and deleted my account.
The truth is, the Instagram I signed up for in 2014 is not what we have now in 2024. I saw the rise of Stories, the For You page, and Reels. I watched as what was originally an app for sharing random slices of life with your friends became nothing but finely curated feeds. Then the rise of influencer and celebrity culture on the app, neither of which I take any interest in and in fact despise to some degree. Everything I’ve ever learned about the personal lives of any celebrity was against my will. And the corporations? I am not on social media to see content from faceless business entities.
And the rage bait. It’s bad. And it’s not just the content creators who take political or aggressive stances. Even innocuous reels would have comments from completely out of left field, trolls starting fights and saying truly horrid, despicable things. I thought, “If I wasn’t on this app, would I even get mad about anything on a day-to-day basis?”
Instagram does have a sneaky retention method that I discovered in the process of deleting, which is called “temporary deactivation.” It’s not a permanent deletion, just a little breather. But I needed that clean break, the band-aid ripped off, and I chose the permanent solution.
But here’s why I’m keeping my book account: the long and short of it is that I just don’t scroll the same way on bookstagram. I never go to the Reels or For You sections; I stay in the home feed because I want to ‘like’ my book friends’ posts and reviews, and I like to stay updated on books coming out from my favorite authors. But I never spend more than maybe five minutes at a time on it.
My use of bookstagram feels more like old internet usage, just as this blog feels to me. The social spheres are smaller, I only care about the posts of those I follow, and I ignore algorithms entirely. Everyone I follow posts pretty much only about their book content, which is all I want to see.
I’m on the fence about TikTok. I have it for my book stuff, but I don’t post regularly and the feed extends beyond book content. If I find TikTok fills my new Instagram-shaped hole this week, then it’ll have to go, too.
Anyway, here’s what I’m reading this week
Want to know what I did with my first full Sunday without my personal Instagram account?
I started and finished a whole book. But before you get too impressed, it was an easy, bingeable read:
Savage Bonds
This book is so bad it’s good. I read book 1 last year, and it’s really only good when I’m truly in the mood for a story like this.
It’s a somewhat silly but addictive premise full of slow-burn tension and a writing style that makes it a breeze to read. I binged it, and no I won’t be reviewing it. I did not read it with any critiquing in mind, lol. If you read my Zodiac Academy review, my thoughts on this series are pretty much the same (though, it has much less grammar issues than ZA).
Currently Reading:
- The Hemlock Queen (ARC): This is the sequel to The Foxglove King, and I’m prioritizing it right now since it comes out in April
- The Poisonwood Bible: I’m taking this one slow so I can really appreciate it. The writing style is excellent, and the themes are confronting
- Chain of Gold (Audiobook): The narrator is great, and it’s a charming book. I’m loving the mix of old societal propriety with demon-hunting culture. It’s a funny dichotomy
New reviews coming soon! I have Ordinary Monsters by JM Miro coming up this week, and a new ARC review next week. Happy reading!
4 responses to “Deleting my personal Instagram, and what I’m reading”
Smart! We should all take notice of our habits of spending so much time scrolling through “nothingness.” I’m with you about how I don’t need to know one thing about any celebrity. I’m very happy for you moving on, you will probably wish you had done it sooner 🙂
I think so too!
Congrats on cutting out the bad habit! I love what you pointed out about how your bookstagram and blog feel more like “old internet” usage — I find it so relieving having some level of detachment from the larger, algorithmic side to ground oneself in the real world. And you can get so many other things done, too, which is lovely! 🙂
Thanks! 🙂 Blogging is so much more fun to me than social media, because I can connect with people over shared interests easier. Vs the crazy commercialization of short form video content and internet trolls haha.