Why you Need to Delete Instagram and Twitter

It may seem counterintuitive, but when done right, restrictions can in fact be very freeing.

It’s been a few months now since I removed Twitter and Instagram from my phone*. This has allowed me to focus more on what is important. I’m not constantly doom-scrolling, AKA wasting time, and instead I can turn that energy into efforts for creating content such as this blog. I certainly benefit from these efforts, and I hope that you do to (it’s why I do it).

Plus, a blank page is just that, a blank page. Sometimes there’s too much possibility it can be so daunting that we never get started. But if we restrict ourselves to only writing a certain type of thing, or even a certain word count, this helps us prioritise what is truly necessary.

Rather than babbling on about things that don’t push the narrative, now all we’re left with is the core message we wanted to say from the outset. While its true that these restrictions limit the amount of things you can do, i.e. they can be seen as the complete opposite of freeing, the clarity and focus they bring truly do feel like a gift from above at the best of times.

Go ahead. Try it.

For starters, get rid of Instagram and Twitter. This way you’re all but forced to work on the work. Alternatively, give yourself some sort of restriction for your work, a specific topic, or a word count perhaps. It may seem counterintuitive, but the feeling the clarity and focus lead to are extremely freeing.

* To be honest, I have since reinstated Instagram. Reason being, I no longer feel the urge to constantly be checking it. They also make it extremely annoying to post without the app, unlike Twitter.