"But that app was a social lifeline. It was where people announced their engagements, graduations, and pregnancies. It was how I tapped into what my friends (and friends of friends) were up to on a random Tuesday - a breezy conversational springboard. It assured I never fully lost touch with anyone: not with high school classmates, distant family members, or people I vaguely remembered meeting once at a party, long ago."
"At first, I'd still compulsively tap into the "social media" folder on my phone, expecting to find that sunset-hued camera icon. After about a week, I adjusted to my new reality. Like a treat-deprived lab rat, I picked up my phone less. What I called "ghost emotions" were gone. For the decade-plus I've had Instagram on my smartphone, I was used to sleepwalking into the app, seeing an image that vaguely stirred some negative emotion in me (envy, annoyance, exclusion),"
A person removed Instagram from their phone for over a year while continuing to use the account on desktop. The app had served as a social lifeline for announcements, casual updates, and maintaining distant connections. Removing the app reduced hours spent scrolling staged influencer posts and simplified political infographics but risked missing milestones and inside jokes. After about a week, phone checking decreased and so-called "ghost emotions" like envy, annoyance, and exclusion faded. The change led to greater presence, increased happiness, and a craving to spend even more time offline, with desktop-only annoyances seen as perks.
Read at Business Insider
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