Why I Deleted My Instagram Account

Last night I deleted my Instagram account, not just disabled, but deleted. Technically, it won’t be completely gone until after the waiting period, but there’s no going back for me.

Why did I delete my account, you ask? Well, let’s rewind a little.

On October 20, 2025, just 17 days ago, I landed on boffosocko.com while researching bullet journaling on index cards and using a Zettelkasten. (“You’re a nerd,” I heard that!) I poked around a little and ended up on IndieWeb.org, where I proceeded to go on a 17-day (and counting) rabbit hole, deep dive, whatever you want to call it.

During the last 17 days, I have been reading, learning, and implementing. I’ve been doing all the things to get connected within the Indieweb community, which has included some frustrating, but rewarding days. I’m not a coder (I’m a writer with seasoning), and I have been messing with things that I honestly have no business messing with.

I’ve been learning and doing, reading and following, trying, failing, tinkering, and figuring things out, sometimes with the help of all the nice folks over on IndieWeb chat. In other words, I’ve spent 17 days, so far, fully engaged in this process.

You’re probably wondering what this has to do with me deleting my Instagram account, huh?

Before I discovered the IndieWeb community, I would watch Instagram reels before bed, sometimes delaying my bedtime by a significant amount of time. Or watching them would make me excessively sleepy. It was a crapshoot, to be honest.

I would reach for my phone and open Instagram multiple times a day. If I were bored, Instagram reels. If I were frustrated, Instagram reels. If I wanted to take a break, Instagram reels. You get the idea. I was using Instagram reels like a baby uses a pacifier.

For a long while, I viewed it as something I just enjoyed doing when I was too tired to do anything else. It was in my downtime (Yeah, right!). It was a hobby. It was fun, sometimes informative, and it was how I kept up with some interesting people. I even did a major overhaul of my Instagram FYP, at one point, so I could better control the content I watched. Harmless right?

I thought that too until recently, but it wasn’t.

Since I’ve been so busy writing and implementing, I haven’t been scrolling Instagram reels as much as I had been. And you know what? I’ve felt so much better. The brain fog is gone. I can think again. I have the energy and the motivation to write again, finally.

Life has just been better.

Last night, I opened Instagram and watched videos for a little while, but then an overwhelming drowsiness came over me. And it’s not like an “oh man, I’m sleepy” type of drowsiness. It’s the kind of drowsiness that completely overtakes you.

It hit me like a sledgehammer. What was I doing?

I hadn’t felt like that since I reduced the time I spent scrolling reels, and I didn’t want to go back to feeling that way all the time. I closed Instagram, and I looked up how to close the account permanently. I thought about it for a few minutes, then I followed the directions to delete my account.

I felt a sense of relief wash over me, and I knew I had done the right thing.

I am a quitter. (And I’m perfectly ok with that.)

For now, I have decided to keep Facebook to stay in contact with my family, but I’m going to be more mindful about when and how I use it. I am also going to stay on Mastodon and Bluesky for now, but I’m being very intentional about how I use those services. I’m new to both of them, so I’m still evaluating them anyway.

If you relate to any of this, it might be worth learning about how watching short videos like TikTok and Instagram can affect your brain. I challenge you to evaluate your social media use. Is it serving a purpose in your life, or is it keeping you from it?

If you want to know who else is quitting social media, read this.

• Header Photo by Nick Fewings on Unsplash