Making my phone boring

I removed Instagram from my phone two weeks ago. Well, all social apps, but Instagram is the main one for me.

I didn’t stop using it, though. Now that they have an iPad app, I installed it there. The idea is to intentionally use it whenever I want to check or post something, instead of defaulting to it every time I have a moment during the day.

It was difficult for the first couple of days, mostly because as soon as I had a quiet moment, my hands went straight for my phone, but it turned into a small boring glass square surprisingly quickly (and honestly, I think that’s what it should be: boring but useful). Slowly I started taking the phone out just to snap photos or videos and then quickly putting it away.

For the first two or three days, at the end of the day I was eager to check the iPad and catch up on what I missed, but that also went away quickly.

I still miss those little hits of dopamine, and I’m struggling with boredom sometimes, but overall, making it slightly inconvenient to use it has helped me be more present and enjoy what’s happening. And I really like that.