Instagram, ask me about it a few months ago and I would have told you that I couldn’t be without but recently have found myself using it less and less and when I do dip in every now and then I know I’ve fallen out of love with this particular social media platform.
There’s not a particular thing I can pinpoint that’s triggered this change but there are lots of smaller things that have been niggling me for a while. One of them is Instagram following accounts for me that I have no interest in, filling up my feed with irrelevant posts which I find annoying when I spent so time building up my feed with accounts I enjoyed. There are also so many more influencer paid ads and although I think it’s great people can make a living this way, I’m inclined to unfollow them as, to me, they’re not genuine anymore. (That and the constant moaning about algorithms changing/not working and therefore not getting the exposure they need to make ads work I find infuriating!)
On a more personal level at my height of using I was putting a huge pressure on myself to post something everyday, I got antsy if it was getting to late in the day to post or didn’t have a good enough picture and if I went anywhere I just had to get pictures so I could share. Now I’m happy to just enjoy the moment and if I get a pic or two great! In the same vain I felt I had to go to everything that was popping up on my feed, a market, pop up shop, new coffee shop or cafe for fear of missing out. Now if something catches my eye I’ll pop along but I no longer feel the need to be everywhere all the time – much more relaxing and not so much of the bandwagon mentality – I’d rather be off than on that one.
A last thought on a personal level is the insecurities Instagram can fuel. I’m a confident person, comfortable in my own skin but even I (with my just over 700 followers) would have my moments – why isn’t anyone liking my post today, am I wearing the right sort of clothes, have I used the right hashtags, why have I lost followers – a slippery slope. I can’t even begin to imagine what it must be like to have negative comments or to be taken apart online like so many other people do – the recent news of Caroline Flack is testament to how that can end and it’s so so wrong. Like I said I’m happy with who I am but the fact that Instagram was affecting my mood, even in just a small way just doesn’t sit well with me and reason enough to take a step away.
However it’s not all bad, through Instagram I’ve discovered and shopped with many small brands, made friends and when I moved to Glasgow two and a half years ago it was a great way to discover the city and find out about all the fantastic indie shops, markets, coffee shops and places to eat (which I have to add, Glasgow is amazing for!) It’s also a great tool for small businesses. I use it for Raspberry B to help promote my pop ups and new listings on Depop and also find it a great networking tool when used in the right way. I also use it as a sort of brand directory scrolling through who I follow for inspiration for gifts, places to eat, and events coming up making all that time spent building this up on the app worthwhile!
So although I’ve fallen out of love, it’s not time to delete yet (I made that mistake with Twitter and am now in the very slow process of building it back up again!) I’ll post the occasional pic and have a quick browse through every now and then but I don’t think I’ll ever be the super user I once was, more of a casual acquaintance than best friend which suits me just fine!
raspberry emma xx
raspberry emma 