I Gave Up Instagram

and it was hard...

I decided to give up social media for Lent this year.

Particularly Instagram.

Honestly, growing up, I never really had a dependency on Instagram or a hard time deleting it from time to time. In fact, I prided myself on my ability to remain detached from social media and spend my time doing things that felt more “meaningful.”

But as Lent approached this year and all my friends talked about deleting their social media, I found myself hesitant for some reason.

I’ll give up something else, I told myself.

When my friends asked why not social media, I shamelessly responded that it was practically impossible for me to give it up, given the fact that I have to post consistently to build a platform for authors to acquire my book and to respond to the thousands (more like dozens) of DMs I receive from youth.

I convinced myself that I couldn’t give up social media because I needed it for my career.

But as the weeks leading up to Lent went by, I found myself reflecting on that word I kept using: need.

As I was doomscrolling until 2 a.m. one night, watching commentary-style reels on the newest Singles Inferno season, I asked myself,

Do I really need this for my career, like I keep telling people?

I asked myself the same thing as I picked up my phone to scroll at every interval of the day when I had nothing to do.

And at night, as I posted my weekly content to work on consistently building my platform, even then, when I technically was doing something for my “career,” I found myself asking,

Could I give this up and be okay?

And that’s when it hit me. My answer at that moment was no.

Despite growing up detached from social media, I realized that as I began posting more and more as I got older, I grew attached.

Not just to social media.

But to the desire to build something for myself. To continue gaining followers and likes. To grow and grow and grow.

Of course, if anyone asked, I would say it was all for the glory of God. In my heart, I believed that. When those words left my mouth, I thought my intentions were honest.

However, as I found myself about to post another reel I had spent hours putting together, marked more by sleepless nights and constant anxiety than by prayer and a heart burning for my generation, I finally accepted that social media had become an idol for me.

And so it was hard even to think about giving it up.

Because in giving it up, I would be falling behind. Falling behind on other people’s lives shared online. Falling behind on my efforts to grow my platform. Falling behind on messages from people I felt needed me. Falling behind on the world’s definition of consistent success, growth, and momentum.

I wonder at what point the world became so important to me…

As I reflected on each of these things, I realized what I had to do.

I had to give it up.

So, that night, I deleted my Instagram. And my TikTok. And Facebook, LinkedIn, and X, for good measure.

It was a hard delete, but a necessary one.

I never want to live my life so attached to something that it scares me to give it up.

I want the only One I’m attached to to be Jesus Himself.

So in the coming weeks, I’m sure I’ll be writing more here about my journey of being social media free. I hope my reflections encourage you to consider the things in your own life you might be holding onto too tightly.

Perhaps this Lenten season can be a time for us to release and surrender,

declaring Jesus as the sole treasure of our hearts.

Even in these first quiet days without social media, I can already sense Jesus gently returning to His rightful place in my heart, mind, soul, and spirit,

reminding me once again that He has always been,

and will always be,

enough.

“Then Jesus declared, ‘I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.’” —John 6:35

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