I’m no longer on Instagram
It took me a long time (a whole two years) to finally bring myself to turn my back on Instagram, as you’ve become so conditioned to it that you feel you might miss out on something if you don’t check it at least once a day. Before you know it, that quick peek has easily turned into half an hour, if not more. Especially when you’ve been the one feeding the world updates from your own little universe.
That showed me quite clearly that I can’t cope with it, and I wanted to put a stop to it. It simply became too much of a waste of my time for what I’ve come to see as a space filled with a great deal of trivialities. Although every now and then you do come across the odd gem – thankfully, they do still exist there. These are usually the people who have 376 so-called followers. Then comes a profile peppered with trivialities and 171,274 followers, and then another, and another………
When I posted that I was leaving Instagram, I received lots of messages from people who had actually taken a closer look at the things I’d posted and apparently made the effort to do so. I’m sure I’ll stay in touch with these people going forward, whether via my website or by other means. As for those who just quickly swiped and gave a heart here and there, they probably don’t care whether I’m here, there or somewhere else. It’s just superficial nonsense anyway, which I’m happy to do without.
Other artists wrote to me saying: “It’s good that you’re taking this step; it’s definitely better for you. Instagram is harmful anyway – everyone knows that. Yet, of course, they’re still on Instagram themselves. This is exactly the point I simply can’t get my head round, no matter how long I think about it… I couldn’t make sense of it in my own case for a long time either, because Instagram:
Puts a strain on your mental health. Studies show a link between social media use and symptoms such as anxiety, stress, reduced concentration and depressive moods.
The constant stream of brief stimuli floods the brain’s reward system. As a result, perfectly normal, slow-paced activities such as reading or doing handicrafts quickly start to feel boring. And on top of that, Meta collects vast amounts of user data. What’s more, the platform is now heavily saturated with adverts, spam and misinformation, and comes across as manipulative.
As I said, I used to be a regular user myself and had high hopes for it.
Now I have more time, which I hope to use wisely – for example, playing with the dog. This wonderful, slightly older portrait of Emil and me was taken by Kirsten Gut Rensow.