How a Couple of Days sick-leave Shifted my Perspective on Social Media

At the start of last week, I found myself feeling quite sick from a food poisoning – no fun, I can tell you. For two days, I mostly lay on the couch, recovering, sleeping, reading, watching documentaries, and, of course, scrolling through social media. Nothing particularly remarkable about how I spent that time – just a typical mix of passive and active entertainment to pass the hours.

However, after those two days, I took a moment to reflect on my activities. What did I actually remember from that time? Surprisingly, it wasn’t the duration of each activity that stood out, but rather the memories they left on me.

• From the book that I read, I remembered a lot. The plot, the characters, the setting, and even some memorable dialogues.
• About the documentaries on TV – I watched mostly nature documentaries – I recalled several scenes and facts.
• From Mastodon, I could recount a couple of updates shared by close friends – personal and impactful. Photos? I’m not sure – I think so – but more about the stories.
• Finally Instagram: I struggled to remember a single photo, maybe one reel lingering in my mind.

When I shared this with a colleague, he made an insightful observation: “The worst part is that you also invested a lot of mental energy processing all those photos and videos. It’s not just a waste of time but also a drain on mental resources – without creating memories”. That resonated deeply with me. It’s not just about the time spent; it’s about the mental effort used up on content that left me with little to show for it. The constant scrolling and rapid-fire images drains energy without enriching my minds.

I also shared these thoughts with my wife, who offered another interesting perspective: “Maybe such media aren’t meant to generate long-lasting memories? If they’re just entertainment to distract us, isn’t that okay as well?” That gave me pause. Perhaps social media and quick content serve a different purpose – providing brief distractions and escapes. Maybe not everything has to leave a deep impact?

But what do I do with this insight now? For me as a consumer I have reduced the time that I spend on Instagram quite a lot. I’ve unfollowed accounts that I don’t fully resonate with (and that just fill my timeline). And I avoid the explore page as much as possible as it just sucks me into endless scrolling. The newly gained time I spent reading. A couple of days later even my wife recognized that I spend ways more time reading than having my mobile in my hand. And I didn’t miss anything!

As a photographer, this experience demotivated me a bit. Do I post photos really just for a some-seconds entertainment until the photo goes into the timeline-void? I mean – I don’t really expect that everyone remembers every photo that one sees – but experiencing it so hard myself was – desillusive. Well, I won’t stop posting there as I do know that a couple of people appreciate my content. But it feels – different right now.