‘When my eldest daughter imitated me one day by holding two phones up to both ears, I knew it was time to change something.’ Photograph: Maskot/Getty Images View image in fullscreen ‘When my eldest daughter imitated me one day by holding two phones up to both ears, I knew it was time to change something.’ Photograph: Maskot/Getty Images Social media Letters I was on Instagram so much, I was missing out on my young children’s lives Emma Roberts on experiencing life in the real world rather than on social media. Plus letters from Warwick Mihaly , Madison Heckel , Zainab Chasb , Helen Clutton and Gordon Smart
Like Georgina McNamara ( The one change that worked: I deleted Instagram – and embraced the joys of a truly private life, 19 October ), I also deleted Instagram over a year ago and have never looked back. And I didn’t stop there. I deleted every social media app I had. When my eldest daughter imitated me one day by holding up two phones, one at each ear, I knew it was time to change something. After I went on maternity leave with my second baby, I deleted all social media from my personal phone. I worked in marketing so it felt counterintuitive, but I wanted to have a break.
Suddenly the world opened up. I could concentrate enough to read more than just the headlines of articles. I had time to organise meetups with friends in real life – in fact, life became IRL. I realise how much time I’d spent of my young children’s lives watching other people parent or just love their lives, and how much I was missing out on. So I quit all social media. Now I just have one messaging app and email, and I am happier for it. Everyone should try it.
The pros of the non-social-media life have benefits far beyond my own mental health; they have affected my family too. I model better digital use for my children. They don’t have to say things three times to get my attention any more. And my eldest daughter imitates me reading books instead of clutching phones.
Now I’m working on reducing the amount of photos I take. I’m experiencing life instead of trying to capture it for it to just sit uselessly in the cloud. I’d rather it sit usefully in my head. Emma Roberts Copenhagen, Denmark
My wife and I deleted Instagram in April this year, along with all the other social media we had on our phones. Unlike Georgina McNamara, we had both stopped posting much on Instagram many months previously (my last post was a year and a half ago, of a drawing I did for my brother-in-law). We stopped posting because we had become uncomfortable with the way Meta and the other social media giants owned our photos, especially the ones we shared of our kids. What had started off in the early days of social media as a fun way of connecting online with friends and family had become clouded by suspicion of bad behaviour by huge companies hoarding our data and selling it to the highest bidder.
So we decided to delete it, partly to save ourselves and partly to model better behaviour for our kids, the eldest of whom is now in high school and facing lots of peer pressure to get on to social media (despite the bans). We promised ourselves we’d try to stay off it for a month. May came and went. Then June. We don’t miss it at all. My wife mentioned the other day that she sometimes misses the interesting design or cooking ideas she comes across, but on balance she thinks it’s a small price to pay. I don’t miss it at all.
We read a lot more now, have gotten back into Wordle, watch TV pr…