During an appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Gabriel Basso spoke about what it was that pushed him to finally delete Instagram. He had found himself doomscrolling, and then, out of nowhere, simply got rid of the app. With a significant number of followers before his deletion, it didn’t go unnoticed.
For Basso, there was one breaking point that made him realize that Instagram was doing more damage than good in his life. As he lay there, he explained, mindlessly flicking through endless images, he came across a picture taken by a climber at the top of Mount Everest. Interestingly enough, of all the nonsense on the social media site, it was this that made him delete his account.
For Basso, it was the fact that he had been able to see such a glorious sight from the comfort of his own home that made him think about what he was doing. The person who took the photo had spent their life working towards that point. They had sweated and struggled, overcoming amazing odds to reach the peak of the highest place on earth.
“And then I stopped, and I was like, ‘Wait, what?’ Why do I now know what that looks like? And it p****d me off that that guy stepped over literal bodies to get up there to see that view, and now I was seeing it from my couch.”
Besso felt as though he had cheated the climber out of his achievement and denied himself the opportunity to work toward the view himself. Sitting there, on his couch, he had been able to see what, even 100 years ago, would only be seen by a select few elite athletes who braved the cold and fought their way up a mountain.
“It bothered me that I had that image in my head now without any effort to earn that visual. And I was like, ‘Dude, screw this whole platform.”
And, that’s fair enough. It’s very easy to become addicted and desensitized by social media. The constant supply of incredible images, unbelievable lifestyles, and unattainable situations does supply a nice drip of dopamine, but can result in the real world seeming a little less vibrant.
For Gabriel Besso, it was seeing the peak of Everest without ever even setting foot at base camp that made him finally delete Instagram. As fun as it can be, and as addictive as reels may be, sometimes it’s better to put the phone down and work towards getting into the situations that we spend so much time scrolling past on Instagram.