I was able to download all my data from Instagram before deactivating it. It was easier than I thought it would be. You can put in a request to download all your data from the Settings –> Privacy section. It might take awhile for Instagram to come back with a link to download your data. Mine didn't take that long as I didn't have that many posts. Total size for my data was around 220 MB.

Upon inspecting the data that I downloaded, it is amazing how much quality is lost from uploading photos and videos to Instagram. People just don't notice it on the phone because the screen is small. But, seriously some photos are pretty bad and pixelated. I was planning on uploading those same photos to Snap.as to post on this journal, but the quality is so low that I think I will just find the original photos and upload those instead.

I skipped the part where I notified friends following my public account. They'll live. And some of them are already following my private account so there's that. I can always send them an instant message if I need to reach out and vice versa.

#QuittingSocialMedia #Instagram

Update: I ended up creating a new Facebook account, here's why. My public Instagram account is still deactivated.

I have two Instagram accounts; a public one and a private one. I'm looking at deactivating my public Instagram account.

The plan is to replace that public Instagram account with this online journal. Instead of posting photos on that account, I will post the photos on here. I'm thinking of starting a new series called “Photo Log” which will basically feature photos, just like posting photos on Instagram. My first attempt at trying out that idea was this post.

I know Snap.as has a photo album feature. I might look into that as well in the future.

Why Am I Doing This?

I want to take back control of my data. I want to move it out of a social network and move it into a domain that I control. I want this site to be the place that you go to, if you want to look at photos that I've shared online.

Before I can deactivate my account though, I need to figure out the following steps:

• Download all the photos from my public Instagram account.
• Notify my friends who are following that account to either follow my private account, or better yet, just follow this online journal instead.
• Deactivate (or maybe even delete?) public Instagram account.

Now The Irony

Part of the reason I still have Instagram accounts is because there is content on there that is hard to find elsewhere online.

• For example I follow the #Mazdaspeed3 hashtag because Instagram seems to have the most photos of Mazdspeed3s. I follow that hashtag because seeing other people share photos of their Speed3s, helps me stay motivated to keep driving my car instead of buying a new one.
• Another hashtag I follow is #SoloBoardGaming because as you can guess, I have an interest in playing solo board games.
• There are also a number of cycling hashtags that I follow, because some of the most beautiful photos of bicycles I have only seen on Instagram.

All that to say, I might end up creating an Instagram account purely for curating a feed and viewing content. No posting of photos, just a way to view content. Ironic, yes I know, but I don't know of an alternative solution to being able to view content from a curated feed without an account.

Anyway, I could probably re-use my public Instagram account to just view photos, but people might start asking what happened with my account or why I un-followed their accounts, etc... I don't want to deal with that. So I'll just create a new one.

Tags: #QuittingSocialMedia #Instagram