6 WAYS TO USE INSTAGRAM IN A PRODUCTIVE WAY

Does going a day without Instagram feel like missing a limb? If so, your reliance on Instagram maybe more serious than you realize. Wasting time scrolling down your Insta feed and reposting reels can carve time out of your day - you could be using that hour and a half to do something more significant. Holding yourself accountable for screen time is hard, but with these 6 tips you can do it:

1. Use the app on desktop:

The desktop layout looks very different from the mobile app. When you use Instagram on desktop, the screen dimensions change. The posts are much larger, and you have to scroll down manually with the mouse curser and side bar rather than swiping and tapping with your finger. You are seeing posts one at a time and instead of having an infinite scroll.

2. Do a smaller task when you are bored:

With any app, boredom can be the common denominator for even installing in the first place. Are you the kind of person who sporadically opens up Instagram when you are bored or avoiding having to do something? When you feel that impulse - catch it. Instead of opening up your phone, do something else. A crossword puzzle. Checking an email. Writing an entry down in your journal. Not only will you have spent that time doing something productive, with your brain at rest, you will have had time to think about other meaningful uses for your time.

3. Using it once a day:

This might seem impossible if you use Instagram professionally, but it still is doable. Segmenting your time into more than one use is one way to do it but cutting it down to just one use allows you to make the most of that time. Plan and schedule content and answer business DMs before you send that funny reel to a friend or bookmark things in your Explore Page.

4. Turn off notifications:

We grab for things when they are hypervisible or in reach. When you see an Instagram notif, the impulse is to tap on it. By simply hiding the notifs, you are putting the distraction in rearview. You would be surprised at how easy it is to focus when you are not distracted by vibrations from your phone.

5. Plan your content in advance:

Do you stress about certain posts not going up in time? Spend half an hour writing the perfect caption that encapsulates how you feel for a post? Schedule content and save to your drafts or use third party apps that help you plan, schedule, and post content. That way, coming up with content doesn't take up all of your time.

6. Be selective in who you follow

You can't control what other people post, but you can control what you see. What kinds of posts do you interact with the most? Which ones are the most distracting? Is it food reels? Music? Entertainment? Makeup tutorials?  Once you identify these things, you can start to curate what you see on your content feed. 

It's all about owning the way social media makes you feel - and how you feel without it. If the answer is anxious or irritable than implementing these tips will help you see the app less as a necessity, and more as a tool. Having a healthy relationship with social media and apps is important - healthy time apart is a good thing!

Sources:

Medium, "How to use Instagram without ruining your productivity?" via Chirav

Camille Styles, "My #1 Social Media Strategy for Getting Rid of Insta-Anxiety"