This is Why Instagram Sucks

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I lost it on Instagram this week. We all saw this coming.

I never started social media to be famous, or rich or recognized in the streets (and let’s be clear — I’m still not any of these, thank God). The truth is I started my Facebook page to share my blog posts. And I started Instagram to hawk protein powder for an MLM where I proclaimed myself a “healthy living coach”. (eye roll)

But something happened after my writing took off and my followers grew (and I quit the MLM and now buy protein powder for 1/3rd the price at Costco). The allure of social media lost its purity. It became work, not fun. And things got — well — weird.

Source: The Atlantic

I met friends (I use this word oh so loosely) on social who were so together. So cool. So popular.

Wow, this chick has 50k followers and she just followed ME. Damn, I’m doing something right.

I started partnering with these friends, sending DMs, even texting and calling each other. And I saw the truth for what it was. For some of these folks, the emperor had no clothes. These friends would do anything for followers and money, including stealing ideas, words, even copyrighted work. These friends would feign ignorance if you called them out on it, either ghosting/blocking or swearing they said it first (um, no… you did not say it before Rumi. Nice try). They would screenshot private text exchanges for their own gain. They put followers above friendship, kindness and basic ethics.

I am willing to bet that if I got hit in front of a bus with these friends, they would pull out their phone to film it for a reel over calling 911.

They really shitty part? It works. Their followers grow and they make money, never looking back at the trail of bodies they stepped over to get there.

Instagram has changed significantly in the last two years. The incorporating of reels and the copying of TikTok and Snapchat features has completely blugeoned the vibe. I hands down prefer Facebook and TikTok to Instagram these days anyway. People can be brutal on those platforms as well but at least they don’t pretend to have their shit together, and they don’t take themselves so seriously.