The streak of not opening Instagram

If you mindlessly spend doomscrolling Instagram, then we were not different some time ago. I tried everything to control it—an extension for the web and apps for the phone—only to end up uninstalling them.

For some time, iPhone’s Screen Time feature did help, but I ended using everything in a single time and then I kept entering the password to get that extra time.

And then, I used ScreenZen. The idea is not to cut you off social media but to use it mindfully.

Why It Works (in my opinion)

• Delayed Start: I need to wait for 30s to open an app(you can set different). So you stare at the screen that says, ‘Is it really important?’ and sometimes you just close it, maybe because of that frustration or resistance. This reminds of study where adding delay in closing doors of elevators encourged more people to use stairs.

• Limit: You can set limits on how many times you can open an app each day and how long each session can last. So I can open it while I have that itch, and then it automatically turns off after 5 mins.

• Streaks: It breaks your heart to not send a snap even if you fought since you did it for the last 365 days. Well, it will also break your heart to have followed opening Instagram X time a day, and suddenly you have that itch to open it one extra time. It works as a habbit tracker.

It initially it can be difficult. For instance, you might find a match on a dating app but be unable to talk on Instagram. I know some would consider this a cheat code, but I would temporarily install Instagram on my iPad whenever I got a match. The only constraint was that I couldn’t talk while at work (which technically should not be a problem). I kept this up for a while and then altogether gave up(on dating apps), but the streak of not opening Instagram lasted.