Instagram; A Popular Application
Instagram is a social media application which allows users to share photos and short video clips. The photos and videos are uploaded to a person’s profile and can be viewed and liked by other users. Instagram users can follow other users; this allows them to receive the content they post on their news feeds.
Instagram has approximately 500 million users and there are thousands of new accounts being added to the platform every single day. Every single day, there are about a 100 million posts being added to Instagram. This shows just how incredibly popular the application is. The videos on Instagram are short in nature and can only be 60 seconds long.
To compete with Snapchat, Instagram released the Instagram Stories; a feature which allows users to post pictures or short videos to their profile and only have them available for others to view for 24 hours after which they will automatically disappear. This feature has become incredibly popular and is used by a big number of users.
Your Account and It’s Custom Settings
Instagram allows users to choose what settings they would prefer and feel comfortable with. You can choose to either make your account public or private. In a public account, anyone can follow you and anyone can go through your posts. However in a private account, you approve the requests people send and once you accept their follow request, only then can they follow you.
You can also choose who views your Instagram stories. If you want that someone does not view your story, you can restrict them from doing so by going to their profile and choosing the setting for where they cannot view your Instagram stories.
Other than that, you can archive posts on Instagram. This feature allows you to add posts to your archives which makes them disappear from your profile but does not delete the posts. Hence if you want the post to reappear on your profile then you can simple un-archive it. You can even block people which restricts them from viewing your profile or contacting you. Overall, Instagram is very flexible in their settings and lets users choose what settings they would most prefer.
Temporarily Disable your Account
When you decide to delete Instagram account, it is a very permanent and non-reversible decision hence you need to think long and hard about it. However, if all you are seeking is just a break from the application and a break from social media in general then to delete Instagram account is not the way to go about it. You can instead choose the less permanent and simpler route instead of choosing to delete Instagram account which is to disable the account for a while.
When you disable your account, all you do is take it offline for a while. It will not be available on the application for anyone to look up or for anyone to see. However, you can activate the account immediately by simply signing in.
Disabling your account is the much preferred option to the alternative choice to delete Instagram account. It is very simple to do. All you need to do is login to your Instagram account and go to your profile. Then click on ‘Edit Profile’ which will be accessible from when you click on your user name on the top right corner. Once there, you will see the option which says ‘Temporarily Disable My Account’, once you choose the option, you will be asked whether you want to go ahead with this action. When you signify that this is your final decision, your account is then disabled till you choose to activate it again by logging back into Instagram.
When you are about to delete Instagram account, the website tells you that you will not be able to sign up for Instagram again using the same username. Hence, it is a double check by Instagram to ensure that you are not making a mistake or have clicked on the options by mistake.
Delete Instagram Account
If you have considered disabling your Instagram account and have decided to instead just delete your account off the platform once and for all then it is something Instagram allows and it is totally your decision to make. Once you delete Instagram account, there is not turning back since the effects are permanent and you will not be able to access the same account ever again.
If you want to use Instagram after your delete Instagram account, you will need to make a new brand new account since the deleted one will never be retrieved again. When you delete Instagram account, the effects are permanent and cannot be reversed hence it is something you need to think long and hard about since the same username and profile will never again be available to you.
If you have decided that to delete Instagram account is the way you want to go, then deleting the account is actually very simple. You first need to go to the page which Instagram has dedicated to deleting your account. You now need to tell Instagram the reason why you want to delete Instagram account. You can choose a reason or give one on your own. However, giving a reason is mandatory and you will not be able to delete your account without doing so.
Now you will need to re-enter your password so Instagram can verify it is you and not someone else who is trying to maliciously delete Instagram account for you. Once you give your password then you can click on the ‘Permanently Delete My Account’ and this will now make sure your account is deleted. You will never be able to access your account again and will have to make a completely new account in the future if you feel like using Instagram again down the road.
Reasons to Delete Instagram Account
There is no one reason why someone might want to delete their Instagram account. There can be a myriad of reasons. However, let us explore the reasons which are most popular. These reasons are pre-provided by Instagram for you to choose as the reason why you are deleting your account.
The spate of reasons which Instagram has found to be a popular reason why people delete Instagram account are given and can be chosen by you.
The reasons include if you had trouble getting started on the application which means that you found it hard to navigate through the application and could not get the hang of it and faced issues in getting people to follow you. You can also choose the option of whether you have made a second account and want to discontinue the account in question. If you have privacy concerns then you can also choose privacy as the reason for deleting your account. If you have certain items on your Instagram which you want to remove and instead of doing so you are simply going to delete your account, you can choose this as a reason as well.
Another very popular reason which prompts people to delete Instagram account is that they are too busy and find Instagram very distracting and hence would rather delete their account so they have one less distraction in their lives. A reason to delete Instagram account can also be that you did not find any accounts which you enjoyed following and had nothing in common with the accounts you followed and hence you were very bored and chose to delete Instagram account. And the last reason can be that you found the ads on Instagram continuous and very annoying hence you chose to delete Instagram account because you could not put up with them any longer.
Other than that, you can also choose the ‘other reasons’ options if none of these reasons is reminiscent of the reasons why you want to delete Instagram account.
Instagram Help
If the reason you are trying to delete Instagram account is because of privacy concerns or because you are being harassed by another user, it might be a good idea to talk to Instagram officials and reach out to them rather than just deleting your account. If you lodge a complaint about someone stealing your pictures or if someone is making fake accounts using your pictures then you can alert Instagram authorities who will deal with the issue and usually are very responsive and immediately take down the account. And if someone is harassing you and is relentless, Instagram also deals with issues like these.
Before you take the permanent and drastic step to delete Instagram account you should make sure you talk to the authorities about the issue you are facing because there might be a chance that the issue you are facing is nothing that cannot be solved. Hence it would be better if you contacted the correct person and made sure there was no other avenue for appeal before you settled on the very final decision of choosing to delete Instagram account. Since once you delete Instagram account, there is no coming back from there.
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