I was Locked Out of My IG Account for 36 Hours and Here’s What I Learned

I was recently performing some housekeeping on my IG account and unfollowed one too many people. IG thought I was a robot or a third party company that helps people gain followers and it shut me out. It gave me the opportunity to change my password but then it didn’t. It told me to click a link and reset my password but that didn’t work either. Knowing this happens I decided to wait it out. Not that big of a deal right? Guys, I was locked out of my IG account for 36 hours and here’s what I learned.

I look at Instagram all the time. When I’m bored. When I’m waiting for something to load on the computer. When I pick up my phone. When I click out of Facebook I automatically go to Instagram. I was forever clicking on IG only to be reminded I can’t look at anything.

I missed Instagram. Like, I wanted to be scrolling through stories. I missed the entertainment of Reels and actually considered downloading TikTok just for the same effect.

Facebook stories are clunky. Stories are definitely Instagram’s thing. Switching to Facebook stories is like switching from a PS4 to an Atari. And they cut you off at 15 seconds-actually less. It felt like you got about 7 seconds.-

I’ll admit I was shook by several of these realizations. I did not realize how reliant on Instagram I was – dare I say addicted? I started Instagram to simply follow some Young Living people as I realized they shared more on Instagram than Facebook. I was never going to post there. But I did. I started to see how others were expanding their business through Instagram and understood the potential. What I now realize is that I forgot to keep using it as a business tool. I got sucked in. Even when I was unfollowing people I would be like, “ Oh, I can’t unfollow them! I’d miss them!” These are complete strangers that I rarely engage with! Crazy.

This break from Instagram might have been God ordained. It was definitely a wake up call. Ive made some changes. I’ve got the screen time notice set up now to remind me to stop checking IG and I have a better plan on how to use it for my business now. I don’t want to get so sucked in again.

Have you ever taken a break from Instagram? What did you realize?