Quitting Instagram for two months (by accident) showed me my business doesn't need me in the app every day. The app on my phone broke in June 2022, my business kept running, and not one person noticed I was gone. My posts got more intentional, my mornings stopped disappearing into the scroll, and summer went on without me documenting it.
If you've been fantasizing about quitting Instagram the same way you fantasize about canceling your calendar and sleeping for three days straight, here's what those two months looked like, and how I’ve changed my marketing strategy and use of the app since.
Updated November 5, 2026
Key Takeaways
Getting off Instagram, even by accident, is far less catastrophic for your business than it feels from inside the app.
Nobody noticed I was gone, which tells you how little anyone besides the algorithm is tracking whether you posted today.
The exhaustion you blame on Instagram is usually bigger than one app, and swapping it for another feed doesn't make it go away.
Table of Contents
If you're ready to leave Instagram on purpose, with a plan instead of a broken app, start with my step-by-step guide: How to Quit Instagram and Market Your Business Without It → This post is the story of what happened when I got pushed off it without one.
What Happens When You Quit Instagram by Accident?
In the summer of 2022, I'd been stuck in the disillusionment and stress of social media marketing for a while, and then, in the middle of June, my Instagram app just... stopped working.
I'd tap the icon and get a blank white screen. I hadn't been hacked, and I could still log in from my desktop, but the app on my phone was dead.
So there I was, accidentally living the thing I'd been low-key dreaming about: two full months off Instagram, not by choice or with a plan, just by circumstance. What happened to my business, my brain, and my sanity during those two months is worth talking about.
Marketers often talk about how you don't own your audience or your content on social media platforms, and ask what you'd do if you suddenly lost access to your profile or the app just disappeared.
Well, it was time to find out, because I was living it.
🎧 Want to listen to the podcast version?
This story is covered across three episodes of Ditch the Chaos:
→ Ep. 6: What I Learned From 2 Months Off Instagram (Part 1)
→ Ep. 7: How I'm Using Instagram After Quitting for 2 Months (Part 2)
→ Ep. 8: How to Quit Instagram Without Tanking Your Business (Part 3)
What Happens to Your Workday When You Stop Using Instagram?
Since I could still get into my account from my desktop (or the browser on my phone), I could still post, but I lost the features that only live in the app, like stickers and music.
I used Tailwind to schedule my feed posts. You can schedule Stories and Reels with Tailwind too, but you don't get the same features as posting them natively in the app, so my VA logged into my account from her phone and posted my Stories for me.
There was no "checking Instagram real quick" between meetings or over my morning coffee, and no endless scrolling through Reels under the guise of saving content ideas for later.
My content and my interactions on Instagram got much more purposeful, simply because the app wasn't as easy to reach.
Does Leaving Instagram Just Send You to Another App?
A funny thing happened after about two weeks without Instagram on my phone…
…I looked at Facebook for the first time in probably over a year.
I don't know why, other than my subconscious needed that social media "fix" of scrolling and liking and paying more attention to other people than to myself. I saw what I was doing, and I knew what was happening, but I felt the itch anyway.
When I started scrolling my Facebook feed (instead of going straight to the couple of groups I use for business or local events), there were so many people I didn't recognize. I had no idea where I'd come across them, how I knew them, or what they did, and it was eye-opening.
I took the time to unfollow tons of accounts and profiles that I either didn't remember or weren't relevant anymore.
After that, Facebook didn't seem to know what to do with me, because I started seeing tons of ads and random posts. If you remember the scene from The Social Dilemma where the app throws anything it can at the teenager to get him to engage again, it was exactly like that.
I'll admit I was pretty irritated with myself for getting sucked into a different (but similar) app just because Instagram wasn't easy to reach. After a few weeks of that, I pulled in the reins and stopped mindlessly scrolling Facebook to scratch the itch.
What would you build with the hours Instagram takes?
If those two months sound like a relief you'd like on purpose, you're probably the person who would have deleted the app years ago if it weren't for your business. You've caught yourself writing captions in your head instead of enjoying the moment, and you've felt the pull back to the app five minutes after you swore you were done for the day. I wrote The Social Media Burnout Cure for you. It walks you through why the scroll keeps pulling you back, how to step back without disappearing, and how to market your business in ways that don't need you performing in the app all day.
The Social Media Burnout Cure by Cara Chace, the book for business owners ready to step back from the scroll and market their business without constant posting. Get 3 free reader bonuses with purchase.
Will Anyone Notice If You Leave Instagram?
I wasn't surprised by this next part, but it bears mentioning: no one noticed I wasn't on Instagram watching their Stories, liking, commenting, or DMing.
No one asked if I'd quit Instagram, no one asked if I was taking a break, and no one said a thing.
To be clear, I didn't expect anyone to notice, and I wasn't hurt or sad about it. It just highlights something about every social media platform, and Instagram most of all…
Everyone is the star of their own show.
We go through our days thinking in Instagram captions, imagining Reels, and trying to connect through DMs, and we miss being present in the moment because we want other people to live it with us.
“We miss being present in the moment because we want others to live it with us.”
I can’t tell you how many times someone has been surprised that I didn’t know what they did that day, or what they were working on, or that they had gone on a vacation — because they had documented all of it publicly, so they (consciously or subconsciously) thought everyone knew.
It made me realize that yes, there are a handful of people I am close with online that I actually connect with in real life off of social media. But a social media relationship is no substitute for an actual relationship.
What Does Life Feel Like After Quitting Instagram?
I had (unintentionally) quit Instagram during the summer months. As a mom of 2 Littles, we had a lot of activities, trips, and fun days planned.
Despite not documenting them, these moments and activities still happened (she says with sarcasm and humor).
I decided to no longer post pictures of my family back in 2021, so this wasn’t a big leap for me. There were a few times that I captured a picture and then immediately thought “this would be a great Instagram Story” — but the feeling quickly disappeared and only happened a couple of times anyway.
It reminded me of summer days growing up, when I was gone all day between the pool, the beach, and the park, and my parents only needed to know in general where I’d be when. There was a freedom in it; a presence of enjoying the day.
I'm not the only one who felt the difference. In a 2022 randomized trial, researchers at the University of Bath asked people to stop using Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and TikTok for one week, and the break led to significant improvements in their well-being, depression, and anxiety.
Life went on in the most glorious and amazing ways this summer, without taking pictures and posting them.
Going Back to Instagram After Quitting: What Did I Do Differently?
One day, I tried reinstalling Instagram on my phone for the umpteenth time, and it magically worked.
I was surprised, and a little anxious about it. What did I want to do with this newfound power?
I found myself reconnecting with a few people I had a fun, engaging relationship with purely on Instagram, and caught up on their latest Stories and goings-on.
As soon as I caught myself opening the app purely out of habit and boredom, I made a couple of changes. If you're wondering how to stay off Instagram once it's back on your phone, these three things kept the app from swallowing my day again:
I turned off every notification, so the app only got my attention when I decided to open it.
I set a daily 20-minute timer, so a quick check couldn't turn into an hour.
I kept posting from my desktop, scheduling feed posts ahead (and letting my VA handle Stories), so posting never required scrolling.
Can You Market Your Business Without Instagram?
Since I hadn't been active on the platform for more than two months, I decided it was the perfect time to test a consistent strategy on Instagram and decide how much time I wanted to give it going forward.
Years ago, I used to post funny, thoughtful quotes about entrepreneurship, motherhood, life, and coffee, and they were some of my most engaging and shared Instagram content. So I repurposed those quotes into a Reel every day for the month of September to see what happened.
Back then, after years of running social media for a living (including seventeen accounts for Megadeth), I believed consistency was one of the most important factors in any social media strategy, and that month of daily Reels was my test of whether Instagram deserved a place in my marketing.
That month of daily Reels was great for engagement, but it didn't help the bottom line of my business at all.
What Did Leaving Instagram for 2 Months Teach Me?
Quitting Instagram for two months, even accidentally, cracked something open that I'd been too busy scrolling to notice. My content got more intentional, my morning coffee went back to being morning coffee, and the relationships that mattered found their way back to me without the algorithm's help.
If your nervous system has been sending you the same signal mine was, it's worth asking what you'd lose if you stepped back, and what you'd get back.
What would you build with the hours Instagram takes?
If those two months sound like a relief you'd like on purpose, you're probably the person who would have deleted the app years ago if it weren't for your business. You've caught yourself writing captions in your head instead of enjoying the moment, and you've felt the pull back to the app five minutes after you swore you were done for the day. I wrote The Social Media Burnout Cure for you. It walks you through why the scroll keeps pulling you back, how to step back without disappearing, and how to market your business in ways that don't need you performing in the app all day.
Get your copy of The Social Media Burnout Cure →
What would your week look like without the "quick check" eating up your time?
Those twenty-minute scrolls between meetings add up fast, and once they're gone, the time needs somewhere better to go than the next thing someone else needs from you. Chaos Detox is my self-paced weekly planning method. I teach you how to build your week around your energy and the curveballs it's going to throw, in under an hour of planning a week, so you know exactly what to work on next (and you're not flustered or overwhelmed about it).
Frequently Asked Questions
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The habit loop breaks faster than you'd expect. In my two months off, the "quick check" between meetings disappeared, my posts got more purposeful because posting took more effort, and I started to see how little energy the app deserved. The biggest surprise was how little anyone else noticed I was gone.
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Not necessarily. My business kept running for the two months I was off the app, and when I stopped posting to my feed in January 2026, the traffic Instagram sent to my website held steady. Stepping back can make you more strategic, because you finally see which marketing brings people to you. If you're ready to leave Instagram with a plan, I wrote a full guide: 👉 How to Quit Instagram and Market Your Business Without It
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Expect a mix of anxiety, unexpected relief, and a few days of reaching for your phone out of pure habit. I caught myself moving the scroll itch over to Facebook before I noticed what I was doing. Research backs up the relief: in a 2022 University of Bath trial, one week off social media led to better well-being and lower depression and anxiety. Noticing the itch comes first, and the boundaries follow.
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Put your energy into the channels you own. During my break I scheduled feed posts from my desktop, let my VA post Stories, and kept up with my blog, which has been my biggest traffic driver for ten years. Email and search don't disappear when an app glitches, and your Instagram profile can work as a signpost that sends people to them.
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No, and that was the most clarifying part of quitting Instagram. Not one person reached out, asked where I'd gone, or asked if I was taking a break. Everyone is the star of their own feed, which means nobody is taking attendance when you step away.
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Sometimes stepping back from one app shows you the overwhelm is bigger than Instagram: the pressure to post, the captions running in your head, and the fear that clients forget you the minute you go silent. That's what I wrote The Social Media Burnout Cure about. It walks through why the scroll keeps pulling you back and how to market your business without the constant performance. 👉 Get your copy of The Social Media Burnout Cure
Related Posts & Mentioned In This Blog:
Phone Addiction vs. Entrepreneurship: What It’s Costing Your Business
10 Actionable Tips for Setting Boundaries and Prioritizing as a Busy Mom
Time Management for People-Pleasers: Reclaim Your Boundaries
Ep. 7: How I’m Using Instagram After Quitting for 2 Months (Part 2)
Ep. 8: How to Quit Instagram Without Tanking Your Business (Part 3)
