It’s been a couple weeks since I started using the App Limits feature to limit my Instagram usage to 7 minutes a day. I also deleted the FaceTime, LinkedIn and YouTube apps from my iPhone and my iPad.

Before that I was typically on Instagram for about 45 minutes a day. Most of that time was spent sitting on the toilet, looking at Reels while my brain turned to shit.

In just two weeks I’ve recovered nearly 10 hours that would have been spent on those platforms. I have reallocated most of that time to writing and simply being with Noah.

I also started to compose responses to Instagram DMs outside of Instagram, in a note-taking app. This gives me space to be more thoughtful, and way less distracted, with my communication.

YouTube was a little harder to convince myself to delete at first. I thought that a lot of the videos I watched were educational and mostly relevant to my hobbies and my work. After a closer look, it was obvious that I was a slave to YouTube’s recommendation algorithm. At the end of the day, even the most relevant videos were distracting me from creating art, serving my clients, or staying open to whatever was arising in my present moment experience.

I have been on YouTube over the past two weeks, but I have to access it from the browser, and have consumed way less content. I only go on there when I am searching for something specific.