I can no longer tell you because I unfollowed everyone and now have a count of zero. And it feels fucking glorious. Damn it feels good to be a gangster. Lol.
1. Snow Globe cocktail recipe from a food influencer.
2. Outfit post from an influencer.
3. Charleston newspaper coverage of Trump's walk across USC's football field.
4. Meme about charcuterie chalets
5. A post from (our pal) Jerry Saltz promoting David Chang's bowl.
6. Vintage lamps from the 70s
7. A post from an influencer
8. Ad for Brightland Olive Oil
9. Zoolamp poster (cool) that turns out to be advertising a lighting sale (why so many lamps today, I am not in the market?)
10. An influencer's tablescape
Honestly, I don't hate it? I would like more art and less influencers but AS an influencer I also want to be supportive. I regularly dream of just unfollowing everyone but would worry too much about hurting friends' feelings and/or ruining brand relationships. I finding myself going on more and more just to post and then leave the app, whereas I can spend way too much time on Substack.
I have been having a back and forth battle with myself about quitting Instagram for years! Each year, I delete the app for the time between Christmas and New Years for a mental break. It's always refreshing, and I feel anxious redownloading it, and yet I do? I've been thinking a lot about why I use it and what makes me feel like I can't quit. I think it's the discoverability. Even though 90% of the content does not serve me in a real way, 10% of it DOES offer something I feel like I would be missing out on otherwise. On the simple front, I really do discover a ton of my now favorite smaller brands there through influencers I trust (including Grace Atwood and Jess Kirby!). I don't want to lose that! But more importantly, as I new parent, I find so much useful information through accounts like The Pediatrician Mom or Emily Oster. But if I'm honest, I also find content in those same spaces that is triggering (the data on RSV for infants, etc.). I read a piece about gentle parenting defectors on Romper (shared by Leslie Stephens in her fabulous newsletter) that made me rethink the way I'm receiving even the useful information about parenting, which is what is mostly taking up my brain space these days. A line from the piece reads "When the tantrum ends, you play back the tape, see how you did. The mental browser tab never closes." And while this is specifically about parenting techniques, it applies to a lot of the baby development or parenting advice I find and save on Instagram. Using it as a place to research and find information I otherwise wouldn't, it never allows my mental browser to close. I'm comparing my instincts and my behavior modeled after the advice I absorb to what I'm told is the right thing to do. This could be said for blogs or books on parenting too, but what I think makes Instagram specifically difficult here is the bite sized content that doesn't allow for nuance or more explanation. It's exhausting and negates whatever helpful content I find.
I had been thinking about a solution before I saw your post, and funny enough, I think newsletters might actually be the answer for me. As you mentioned, you get real story in newsletters. Intstagram leaves our brains wanting more from those we do resonate with and I think newsletters like yours offer the chance at actual connection, in whatever way that is actually possible through a screen. Newsletters (and blogs, which I still love!) allow for the discoverability piece, too. I do love seeing try ons and new products my favorite influencers are loving, and those can still be found, but maybe in a more thoughtful way. I'm not sure I will ever actually fully quit the app, especially because I work in communications, but I do think it would be useful to make a plan to develop a healthier relationship with it.
I am LOVING your newsletter and have found each one to hit home. Thank you so much for writing!
In Europe they rolled-out a paid IG feature that allows us to remove ads. I purchased it to experiment with it.
1. News on French public transportation ~ Hugo Decrypte
2. Music video ~ Lake Street Dive
3. Cat photo ~ Nez to ciel
4. Cat video (suggestion)
5. Some celebrity news ~ Enews
6. Another cat suggestion post
7. More celebrity news ~ People
8. Cat video suggestion 😅
9. Words from Vex King
10. Cat meme
I don’t see any content from friends or family, they don’t post a lot in their mid/late thirties.
Clearly, cats are taking over my feed! Interestingly, they are not ads but suggested posts. This proves that despite the new subscription, Meta will try anything to push content ~ whether good or bad!
Totally agree with you that our brains are not meant for this kind of frenetic switching and multi tasking. I used to feel more Instagram burnout but then I became even more militant about who I'm following (not like I followed that many people to begin with), and realllllllly pared things down. I did this with the intention of getting my feed back to a place where 95% of the content I'm seeing (minus a few ads) is truly stuff I want to see, is informative, is personal, etc. I really now just see things from my closest friends, photography that makes me happy, small businesses I love, and a few content creators that I really trust and derive great joy and inspiration from. I enjoy Instagram again! I've also muted many folks on either posts or stories depending on what content of theirs speaks more to me, so that I'm not inundated. I've also recently discovered there are creators who I feel do not translate (for me) on Instagram, but I love their content on another platform like Tiktok and so I've followed them there instead.
I can no longer tell you because I unfollowed everyone and now have a count of zero. And it feels fucking glorious. Damn it feels good to be a gangster. Lol.
Mine:
1. Snow Globe cocktail recipe from a food influencer.
2. Outfit post from an influencer.
3. Charleston newspaper coverage of Trump's walk across USC's football field.
4. Meme about charcuterie chalets
5. A post from (our pal) Jerry Saltz promoting David Chang's bowl.
6. Vintage lamps from the 70s
7. A post from an influencer
8. Ad for Brightland Olive Oil
9. Zoolamp poster (cool) that turns out to be advertising a lighting sale (why so many lamps today, I am not in the market?)
10. An influencer's tablescape
Honestly, I don't hate it? I would like more art and less influencers but AS an influencer I also want to be supportive. I regularly dream of just unfollowing everyone but would worry too much about hurting friends' feelings and/or ruining brand relationships. I finding myself going on more and more just to post and then leave the app, whereas I can spend way too much time on Substack.
I have been having a back and forth battle with myself about quitting Instagram for years! Each year, I delete the app for the time between Christmas and New Years for a mental break. It's always refreshing, and I feel anxious redownloading it, and yet I do? I've been thinking a lot about why I use it and what makes me feel like I can't quit. I think it's the discoverability. Even though 90% of the content does not serve me in a real way, 10% of it DOES offer something I feel like I would be missing out on otherwise. On the simple front, I really do discover a ton of my now favorite smaller brands there through influencers I trust (including Grace Atwood and Jess Kirby!). I don't want to lose that! But more importantly, as I new parent, I find so much useful information through accounts like The Pediatrician Mom or Emily Oster. But if I'm honest, I also find content in those same spaces that is triggering (the data on RSV for infants, etc.). I read a piece about gentle parenting defectors on Romper (shared by Leslie Stephens in her fabulous newsletter) that made me rethink the way I'm receiving even the useful information about parenting, which is what is mostly taking up my brain space these days. A line from the piece reads "When the tantrum ends, you play back the tape, see how you did. The mental browser tab never closes." And while this is specifically about parenting techniques, it applies to a lot of the baby development or parenting advice I find and save on Instagram. Using it as a place to research and find information I otherwise wouldn't, it never allows my mental browser to close. I'm comparing my instincts and my behavior modeled after the advice I absorb to what I'm told is the right thing to do. This could be said for blogs or books on parenting too, but what I think makes Instagram specifically difficult here is the bite sized content that doesn't allow for nuance or more explanation. It's exhausting and negates whatever helpful content I find.
I had been thinking about a solution before I saw your post, and funny enough, I think newsletters might actually be the answer for me. As you mentioned, you get real story in newsletters. Intstagram leaves our brains wanting more from those we do resonate with and I think newsletters like yours offer the chance at actual connection, in whatever way that is actually possible through a screen. Newsletters (and blogs, which I still love!) allow for the discoverability piece, too. I do love seeing try ons and new products my favorite influencers are loving, and those can still be found, but maybe in a more thoughtful way. I'm not sure I will ever actually fully quit the app, especially because I work in communications, but I do think it would be useful to make a plan to develop a healthier relationship with it.
I am LOVING your newsletter and have found each one to hit home. Thank you so much for writing!
In Europe they rolled-out a paid IG feature that allows us to remove ads. I purchased it to experiment with it.
1. News on French public transportation ~ Hugo Decrypte
2. Music video ~ Lake Street Dive
3. Cat photo ~ Nez to ciel
4. Cat video (suggestion)
5. Some celebrity news ~ Enews
6. Another cat suggestion post
7. More celebrity news ~ People
8. Cat video suggestion 😅
9. Words from Vex King
10. Cat meme
I don’t see any content from friends or family, they don’t post a lot in their mid/late thirties.
Clearly, cats are taking over my feed! Interestingly, they are not ads but suggested posts. This proves that despite the new subscription, Meta will try anything to push content ~ whether good or bad!
Totally agree with you that our brains are not meant for this kind of frenetic switching and multi tasking. I used to feel more Instagram burnout but then I became even more militant about who I'm following (not like I followed that many people to begin with), and realllllllly pared things down. I did this with the intention of getting my feed back to a place where 95% of the content I'm seeing (minus a few ads) is truly stuff I want to see, is informative, is personal, etc. I really now just see things from my closest friends, photography that makes me happy, small businesses I love, and a few content creators that I really trust and derive great joy and inspiration from. I enjoy Instagram again! I've also muted many folks on either posts or stories depending on what content of theirs speaks more to me, so that I'm not inundated. I've also recently discovered there are creators who I feel do not translate (for me) on Instagram, but I love their content on another platform like Tiktok and so I've followed them there instead.
I relate intensely to the only wanting to follow Bravo accounts haha, it's the only place I can find my people!!