Since 2016, I have almost entirely checked out of social media. I made my Twitter account private and no longer log into it. I also do not check Twitter anymore. I initially deactivated my Facebook account, then eventually deleted it altogether as I realized I had no use for it and I also did not like the thought of Facebook retaining my data ¹. I still occasionally check Snapchat, but only when people share things with me; I rarely share anything with Snapchat. The only strong hold out to social media prohibition had been Instagram.

Instagram was in this weird gray area with me. I obviously knew they were owned by Facebook. However, it almost felt as though they were sandboxed from the parent company. I would tie myself in knots to justify it in my head that it was okay to use Instagram but not okay to use Facebook. This past weekend, I finally became fed up with Facebook and decided to delete my Instagram account. I’m sure I will eventually miss some parts of Instagram, but so far I do not. If I want to share photos with people, I’ve realized I have a perfectly good vehicle for sharing photos: blogging. Sure, it’s a hurdle for people if they want to view my photos, but I think it’s a good trade off. If I’m not tied to as many social networks, that’s probably a good thing in the long run.