Distraction Free Instagram

24 Feb, 2025

I've been using this cool tool since earlier this year: https://distractionfreeapps.com/. It lets you disable certain app functions, such as the feed, the explore tab, reels, and the shopping tab.

The idea came around last year when my friends and acquaintances started posting the yearly recap photo dumps. It was nice to see those, and I suddenly had the urge to do the same. So I did just that - compiled all my photos into a nice post and had everything cropped properly. But after I posted it... I felt a little hollow? I guess I don't know how to articulate it exactly, but I just felt like I wasn't posting it genuinely, but more so to catch the trend and do what everyone's doing.

It got some likes and comments, but I didn't feel as great as I thought it would. I stumbled across the app somewhere on Reddit, I believe, and I tried it out! It works great, and I've essentially blocked everything except for the reels tab. As Instagram isn't my primary messaging platform, it's mainly used for sharing Instagram Reels with my partner and a couple of friends.

I don't find myself missing it as much as I thought I would. I was pretty addicted to clicking into Instagram Stories whenever people posted there, I always found those round rainbow-gradient-looking things so satisfying to press haha! It was a pretty big timewaster, so that's gone now. I also didn't look at posts anymore after I noticed the big spike in ads, and, how some stuff that wasn't even from accounts I followed started popping up there (even non-ad stuff).

Note: This is how my Instagram looks like now whenever I open it up!

Overall, I think this was a pretty good implementation of my social media habits. I'm able to see the reels my friends send and still look at profiles (and stories, provided you manually visit the profile and then click into the Story from there) when I want to. I'd recommend it to anyone who still wants to use Instagram but dislikes certain aspects of it (stories/reels/etc.)

[23/100] for #100DaysToOffload

#100DaysToOffload #technology