What I learned from a week without Instagram

Spoiler: I missed it like crazy—but there were some big upsides

Less scrolling, more dancing!

Hey, ho, hi there.

After my big, dramatic announcement last week that I was deleting Instagram from my phone and swearing off Meta products, I am coming at you today with the less-dramatic announcement that I am back on the apps.

It was only supposed to be for a week anyway, although I’d love to go full Meta-sober one day. For now, I just wanted to know that I can live without it.

What the past week taught me: I can’t. Or, more candidly, I guess I don’t want to, which I have very mixed feelings about.

Full disclosure: I did cheat a little. On Tuesday I made a carousel to let people know about a late-breaking opportunity to join a writer’s retreat in February. Over the days that followed I used the Instagram desktop app to monitor replies and send people my discount code (scroll down for more deets about this retreat!) I will admit to getting sucked into the odd meme about the Epstein email dump while I was online. (What a week to go off social media! Oy…) But mostly, I succeeded in avoiding the feed. Here’s what happened.

1. I felt really isolated. This was probably extra pronounced because I’m currently housesitting alone in a small town where I don’t know anyone. But truly, I felt lonelier not seeing friends’ stories and posts, missing the casual micro-conversations I’m used to having in comments and DMs. Turns out social media still has a social aspect to it, go figure, and that’s what I missed most of all.

2. My media diet got monotonous, fast. Sure, I could still read a book or listen to a podcast, and I did more of that than usual last week. But I missed the ease of being served up a buffet of comedy and podcast clips, painting demos, fashion inspo, and workout routines. Realistically, I’m not going to go looking for that stuff, even if I find it useful or interesting. As a source of casual, on-demand entertainment, social media is unmatched.

3. I moved my body more. Maybe I was tweaking from withdrawal, but I was way, way more active last week, even at home. I played music incessantly and spent a lot of time dancing, stretching, and doing pliées at the kitchen counter. How many more sedentary hours slide by unnoticed when I’m only moving my eyes and my thumb?! I don’t know, but it’s a lot.

4. I got a metric fuck-ton (fuck-tonne?) of writing done. I didn’t necessarily spend more hours writing, so this may be correlation, not causation, but I undeniably made far more progress with less effort than usual. Intense creative focus. Major benefit!

5. I felt less yanked around by the news cycle. Much as I was dying to hear all the gossipy hot takes on that “blowing bubba” email and Marjorie Taylor Greene’s crocodile tears, my nervous system loved not having to take it in. I felt less keyed up in general and I think I slept better, too.

6. I’m far from alone in trying to reset my relationship with these apps. Quite a few of you got in touch to say that you aren’t on social media at all anymore, or you take regular breaks, or that you’re worried about your screen time and want to get off it, too.

I guess my main takeaway is that breaking up with Meta would be very hard for me to do, maybe impossible. Bluesky gave me the news headlines but was essentially boring. I belong to too many group chats on WhatsApp to ever switch to Signal. And I’m never going to get my mom off Facebook.

That said, I think my weeklong cleanse was good for me, and I should probably do it regularly. The algo seems to have missed me too, because this morning it seemed to be showing me less of the old ICE-raid rage-bait and recycled memes and more interesting, peaceful, positive content. All the better to lure me back in, those wily bastards!

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DISCOUNT CODE: Want to spend February writing in this French château?

You may recall me raving about this château in Normandy where I spent August living and writing. Many of you have asked me how you can stay there, too. Well, if your life allows for some location-independence, there’s an unbeatable late-breaking opportunity to join their Writers’ Haven in February!

This is Château Coliving, a communal residence in a 12th-century castle in northern France. Anyone can stay there for a month at a time throughout the year, but they also host themed months from time to time, and this February they’re bringing back their popular Writer’s Haven month.

This is a facilitated monthlong writing retreat suitable for professional or aspiring writers working in any genre. They describe it as:

• Supportive community of 10-15 writers from diverse backgrounds and genres

• Facilitated sessions and guidance to support your goals

• Distraction-free environment with fast internet, cosy nooks and comfortable workspaces

• Incredible surroundings that spark creativity and imagination

• Perfect balance of focused writing time and social connections

This is not a full-time instructional program, and you don’t need to be writing anything “serious” to join. It’s just a chance to spend a month in incredibly inspiring surroundings in the peace and quiet of the French countryside with some guidance and community support, and plenty of free time to do your own thing.

Unfortunately, I won’t be able to join this one in person, but I will be Zooming in to deliver a special workshop. And I have a discount code for you!

Book between now and the end of January using my code: WRITERSHAVENMAGGIE to get « 200 euros » off any room category.

If this feels juicy to you, I hope you go! This place is so special… I honestly had the most magical time there and can’t wait to go back.

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Coach with me: Support for your writing life

Want some personal support for your own writing practice? Click the button below to book a quick 15-minute vibe check with me, where we’ll discuss your creative goals and what kind of coaching would work best for you. I work with writers of all levels of experience, from seasoned veterans of the craft who want to take their practice deeper to novices who need help getting started.

If you’re stymied by a crisis of confidence, indecision, procrastination, a lack of purpose, or any other emotional or mental blocks that are getting in the way of living your best creative life, this is for you.

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Publish your book with Wonderwell Press

Wonderwell Press, the hybrid publishing company I founded in 2013, is now in its second year as an imprint of Greenleaf Book Group—check it out here!

I am no longer personally running the operation, but I am still its Founding Publisher, which means I get to select which titles go into the program.

Do you have a finished manuscript or work-in-progress that you want to get published? Looking for editorial and marketing support from smart, experienced publishing professionals?

True to the imprint’s founding mission, our focus is on nonfiction books that help, heal, and inspire. If this describes your project, submit your project to Wonderwell Press below, and your book could be in stores in as little as one year.