What is this place?
Looking at Instagram after a long break be like...
For the last few months, I’ve only downloaded the Instagram app when I’m about to post something, then delete it a day or so later. I don’t know why I’m so attached to my feed – I know a day will come when I’m away from it for so long that I’m ready to delete the whole thing, but that day isn’t here yet.
A slice of the space in my brain created by almost-leaving Instagram has recently been filled by TikTok, but the novelty of that is already fading.
I looked at Instagram today. It must have been the longest I’ve gone without checking it, because for the first time ever, it felt really weird. Like it was brand new. Alien, almost.
I scrolled a bit, and my brain was like:
wow, so many ads, and ads disguised as posts – yuck
swipe swipe swipe: curated life highlight! trauma dump! thirst trap! life highlight! brainrot meme! politics! war! life highlight! holy fuck the rapid-fire context and emotion switching is so incredibly exhausting now!
ok, hehe, you got me. I miss laughing at silly memes (a little bit)
my social circle is suddenly, artificially inflated – I cannot keep up with this many people in real life, in any truly meaningful way, no matter how badly I want to
SO MANY FUCKING ADS WOW I miss the OG instagram when it was just people’s badly filtered pics of sandwiches
I wonder how all these kids are going to feel when they grow up and find out their parents plastered publicly accessible photos of their entire lives all over the internet without their consent (I would feel devastated, betrayed, exploited)
boy howdy, this place is noisy in every possible way
everyone (including me) seems to be selling something, whether it’s an actual product or just a curated vibe
he he ha ha ha! I better save that meme to show Jesse later
wait no this kinda sucks
I don’t miss this
time to delete again
I genuinely miss it sometimes, and I feel out of touch with some people, but boy howdy, my brain feels like it’s knitting itself back together the longer I stay off apps like this.
I guess that means I need to delete TikTok before it becomes habitual.
