Instagram is digital opium

Instagram is the worst social media platform I have ever used - and I have used LinkedIn.

Everyone is optimising their life for posts and reels.

Everyone has a heightened sense of self-importance.

Everyone is starving for reasons to post something. Friend’s birthday? Post a story. Went out for dinner? Post a story. Dog died? Post a story. Maybe a reel too.

I can only imagine the time and effort it takes to make a reel. I don’t know why anyone would spend time to make their life look interesting instead of actually working to improve their life.

Instagram causes us to look at our life from the lens of the camera. Will this look good on my story? Should I post this? Some people make their life decisions based on what looks good on their feed.

I have deactivated my account on multiple occasions thinking I don’t need it for maintaining contact with people. But it doesn’t work. You lose touch with everyone except 2-3 people. It’s the equivalent of going to a solitary retreat (minus the spiritual benefits) because most of our relationships are online.

I don’t know a solution to the digital opium that is Instagram. What works for me is not having the app installed, and not being logged in on any of my devices. I log in and check my feed once in a while and that’s it.