This is not a post I thought I’d write. 

Instagram, and social media, has been something that I’ve always enjoyed.  I built a business on it as well as a pretty solid personal brand.  And I think I’m pretty good at it.

That all said, connectivity is not the same as connection and after a few breaks from the gram, I have reached a point where I just don’t like it anymore.  Simple as that.  I have no more interest in the dopamine filled buffet that Zuck’s algorithm is offering me. For now at least.

Every time I open the app after a break I am very quickly reminded of why took a break from it in the first place.

Let’s be brutally honest with each other.  Social media, and the way the online world is playing out, is designed to tap into and manipulate the worst parts of the human psyche.  

Have you ever considered that there are two industries that call their customers ‘users’?

 Drugs (including alcohol) and social media.

To me, and I’d love to hear what you think, the benefits of Instagram are not worth the cost of Instagram any more.  The effort that, in the past, used to have a pretty decent ROI now feels like it’s wasted and I’m not willing to pay that price anymore.  I’d much rather, and this is what I’ll be doing, focus my creative energy, stories, teaching and inspirational ideas and goals on real life things like writing, recording podcasts, tutorials and videos and doubling down on my coaching business. And I’m finally going to  start a book project I’ve been delaying for way too long.

I want to go for a hike and instead of looking for images that could make a cool IG story or post, I want to look at the soft early morning sky and just enjoy being out there.  Actually live in the moment and not only use it as a hashtag.

I want to, when hosting tours and expeditions, focus on the privilege of being in amazing places and how best I can document a scene or subject, whether with photographs, videos or journal style writing. I don’t want to continuously be looking out for quirky, different, funny or potentially viral moments to share to my feeds as soon as possible. 

When travelling on my own or living my life I want to share it with the people around me and appreciate the moment and be grateful for the moment without having even the slightest need to share it with people who, even though they might leave lovely messages and comments, I don’t know and, more importantly, don’t really know me.

I want to live life and, instead of taking all the positive energy and moments and bouncing them outwards, keep them inside and hang on to them for as long as possible.

It is actually quite scary how many people post something like this to their stories every now and then… “I just wanted to enjoy the moment and not be on social”.

You see what I’m seeing?  Here’s the truth. If you feel you might need a break from Instagram, or social media, you do.

Personally I’m over it and again, to me the benefits just aren’t worth the cost anymore.

During the last few months I have seen a large number of people I follow and respect leave Instagram to focus on their real worlds. Their real businesses. Their real relationships. Their real self. Their real life.

These people are all from very different industries and they’re all successful in their own right and, having followed up on all of them on their websites, newsletters, YouTube channels and podcasts, every single one of them is crushing it and going strong.  More than this, all of them, bar none, mention that their mental health and free floating anxiety is dramatically better since living in a world that isn’t governed by algorithms, likes, egos, ads and negativity.

Every time I saw one of these people leave was intrigued. I saw their reasons for leaving and felt a sharp excitement of also doing it.  Of also leaving and backing myself to do the things that I’ve left undone or unfinished or throw my creative energy into something new.  Something real. 

As tempting as the ideas was, it just always felt impossible.

Until now.

So in no particular order, here are a few of the reasons or thoughts behind me leaving the world of stories and reels behind.

1. ROI of Instagram – I have reached a point where the time, energy, creative effort and emotional equity I put into Instagram is just no longer worth it.  Yes, there are 100% benefits from being on the platform but, as with any benefit, you have to weigh the cost against it and for me the cost has crossed the point I’m willing to pay.
2. Live in the moment – as cliched as this is, it’s the truth.  The best moments in life are the ones you can’t share on social media. And quite honestly, the best ones you shouldn’t want to share with people who aren’t with you in the moment.  I’m done always having the little voice in the back of my mind asking me to document a moment for a story or post.  It’s tiring and I hope we can agree on this, it turns down the volume and intensity and beauty of the moment because you don’t invest yourself in it fully.  The irony here is that when it launched, Instagram was a place to literally share your moments in real time.  You could only post images that you took and there was no stories or reels or anything like that so living in the moment is something that, in my mind at least, is not part of the Instagram DNA anymore.
3. Reality – Nothing on Instagram, or at least only a very very small percentage of what we see, is real.  Influencers prancing around on safari in white dresses twirling outside the small dusty bush plane they’re about to take.  21 year olds offering life advice while wearing pretty much nothing and hiding the fact that they’re trying to sell you a product they don’t use but are being paid to promote.  An obscene amount of ads.  Repetitive content. And the underlying, and sometimes not so underlying, negativity and attention seeking.  Yes, I could probably go and make the time so find the authentic and positive content on Instagram or I can just live in my real world and be surrounded by it all the time.
4. Over consumption of content and news – The world of Instagram, and social media, has become hard to witness.  Have you had a good, hard look at your consumption?  In the car.  Before bed.  When you wake up.  While getting dressed.  At dinner with friends.  In front of the tv.  While working.  The dopamine hits that we’ve been getting from the continuous attention and likes and comments needs to be continuously increased in order to feel the same.  And if you stepped back for a moment, put your phone down and deploy a little bit of awareness you’ll see that scrolling has taken over many of our lives with literally zero positive feedback or energy in return.  If you, for example, only had 100 points of attention and energy to spend each day, do you really want to spend it on Instagram?
5. Out of control egos – I guess when you create a platform which asks people to share the highlights of their lives and combine that with digital smoke being blown up people’s asses you’re going to get out of control egos.  Some people have lost the plot online and their feeds are not about authenticity or adding value but rather an algorithm driven orgy of self-appreciation.  I just don’t feel the need to be exposed to shit like that on a daily basis anymore and to see people so desperately be something they’re not in order to get attention, free stuff or take sad and veiled stabs at other people is something none of us needs in our lives.
6. Mental health and clarity – the negative affect of social media has been well documented but I don’t think too many people actually take this seriously for themselves and will always project to how it affects other people.  Instagram is not good for your headspace and it has literallly been designed to show you exactly what you want to see in order to keep you interested.  Sounds a lot like manipulation don’t you think?  I cannot wait to explore a world where I am not filling my headspace and attention with random images and visuals but replace this with either creating something or filling up the space left in my brain and psyche with positive, productive and nutritious educational content and information.
7. Growth – I’m talking about business, physical health, mental health, education, life.  Even without something like Instagram it’s hard to cultivate a growth mindset and execute against it.  Throw it in the mix and you have a constant reminder that there are people ‘better’ than you, people who struggle more than you, people who are apparently hungrier that you, places you won’t ever get to and things you’ll never get to do.  Yeah, I get that it’s easy enough to just ignore it and do your own thing but, as with nutrition, it’s not only about how many calories you eat that’s important but also the breakdown of your macronutrients.  I have been wanting to grow a few parts of my life for quite some time and as I see it, Instagram, is not a part of that anymore.
8. Real life relationships – How often do you sit with your partner, family, parents or good friends and the pick up your phone and just scroll on Instagram.  You get up to get a drink, scroll.  Just before starting a meal, scroll.  Mid conversation, scroll.  Before watching a movie, scroll.  Immediately after the movie, scroll. Can you see it?  Addiction?  I don’t care what the relationship is with the other people that are with you, it breaks your attention and energy and compromises your relationship with them.  You can not be totally invested in a moment and the people you’re sharing it with if you quickly scroll to see what’s happening on the gram.  I have become painfully aware of how often I reach for my phone and for now other reason than to scroll.  I’m done with that and it’s time to focus on real conversations.  Real people.  Real relationships. Real life.
9. Making room – Off the back of the previous point, I want to make room in my life.  I want to make room for other people, deeper connections, new ideas, inspiration, myself, longer conversations, education, new goals, more focus, more quiet time, more experiences.  I want to make room for more.
10. Look up – In life we’re supposed to look up once in a while and all this looking down is not good for us.

Will it be hard to leave Instagram?  

I’m under no pretences on this and yeah, I’m sure it will be but with any, and let’s call it what it is, addiction, you have that empty feeling deep down wishing, even knowing, there’s more to this.  So yeah, as hard as it might be I have weighed the upside and downside of my decision and I’m all in.

I am going to delete the app and then have Echo, my new chatbot, manage my DM’s to point people in the right direction should they want to get hold of me whether for travel and photography or life coaching.

From 3 July 2022 going to turn off the insta-noise in order to, instead of throwing every passing thought onto a 24 hour story for a fast diminishing audience that double taps to send you smiley face or heart emoji, do something more bold and daring.  I’m going to double down on my life, on my businesses, on my creativity, on me.

Do I have some fears and concerns?  Oh, absolutely.  Loosing relevance, FOMO, extra time in my own head just too name a few.  But once more, the benefits are just no longer worth the cost and I believe 100% that taking the time and energy I used to expend on the gram, both from a consumption and creating point of time, and point it elsewhere has no downside.

Will I be back?  Yes I will be, because if you see Instagram for what it is, a straight up marketing platform, then there is value to it.  So once I have created what I want to create and doubled down on the creative and personal clarity I am totally expecting to get then I will use the platform for marketing and as a funnel to what I am putting together.

Will I pop in somewhere in between?  More than likely yes, but it will then 100% be a post and ghost approach.  Get on, post valuable content and ghost.  This approach is something I think actually has a lot of value for many people out there.  Maybe you should try it?

Podcasts, YouTube videos, blog and journal posts and my newsletter.  That’s where I’ll be focusing my attention and where you can find me and follow my journey and pillar content.

I have a nervous and excited feeling about this but I know it’s what I need to do now. There’s things I need to do, want to do and it’s time to level up on various aspects of my life. And I’m psyched to get stuck in!

You can sign up for my newsletter below.

Oh, and if you happen to be looking for something or send me a message on IG from 3 July you’ll meet Echo.

🤖

Echo is my new chatbot and he’ll be managing my Instagram DM’s while I’m living in the real world. He’s still young and learning so if you do meet him, please play nice. 😉

Like I mention in the journal entry above, I will most definitely be focusing on content and the two podcasts, Morning Coffee and other YouTube videos, weekly newsletter and blog posts on both the Wild Eye and my own websites will be where you can follow along my journey and hopefully find some value to deploy in your own life, travel plans and creativity.

I am looking forward to this new focused attention on my life and hope that you’ll stay in touch and engage on the various platforms I will be creating on.

If you’ve been following me on Instagram, thank you! I deeply and truly appreciate your attention, comments, questions, debates and time. I hope you get to continue with our conversations but if not, I will catch you on the gram somewhere down the line.

For now though, time to focus on the real world.

And add real value.

Create something new.

Live.

Thank you Instagram, it’s been real. 🙏🏼✌🏼

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