Buh bye Instagram

 

Photo by Jon Tyson on Unsplash

I've deleted my Instagram account.

Why?

One night, I opened Instagram to look at it for a few minutes. Typically, Instagram hands me the latest post from Petey The Seeing Eye Donkey. I also like to see posts from We Rate Dogs and dog skits. But Instagram had an habit of giving me Petey updates at night.  Petey is a donkey who is the 'seeing eyes' for a blind horse named Luna. The posts are almost ALWAYS the same: Petey leads Luna out of the barn in the morning, Petey lead Luna into the barn at night.

But I wasn't shown Petey.

Instead the first post was video of a stunned hummingbird lying on a cement floor of a fire department garage and in first person video style, a firefighter was trying to revive her. First he tried sugar water, then he untangled some cob webs from her wings and feet. The bird flew away.  

Good resolution, but dramatic video.

Then, I was shown a post of a baby elephant that had somehow gotten into a large water trough and was struggling to get out. Again, first person video style, someone drove up with a Range Rover-type of vehicle. First, they tried lassoing the baby elephant but eventually just got into the tank and another person assisted in pushing the baby elephant up and out of the tank. Then the baby was disoriented and kept going to the vehicle as if it was the mommy so they had to push the baby towards the elephant mom who was distraught and nearby.  Very soon, the mommy came to fetch and reassure the baby as the rescuers backed away.

Good resolution, but dramatic video.

I was exposed to BOTH of these videos from accounts I don't follow. I turned off Instagram and checked how I felt. I was really upset. 

Photo by David Kristianto on Unsplash

My emotions had been run through the ringer twice at no intention of my own. I'd been exposed to a version of outrage porn.  These posts were MEANT to upset me, to roil me up, even if the situations depicted had positive resolutions.

I literally said to myself "I didn't ask for this." I don't follow hummingbird recuse accounts. I don't follow baby elephant rescue accounts. At that moment, I deleted Instagram completely off my phone.

Afterwards, I thought about which accounts I enjoyed from people I know (three accounts) and wondered if it would be OK for me to stop following them by leaving Instagram altogether. For two of the three, they are on other media. I decided that I can depart. Besides, I rarely see posts from them these days as Instagram's algorithm apparently has other intentions for me.

Thus, I deleted my own Instagram account.

This story is not a condemnation of Instagram. Truly, I've deleted other social media accounts before (Bye Bye Twitter/X) and other accounts are teed up, waiting the hopper for me to find their day of deletion. So Instagram is not special.

But folks are really starting to call the emperor naked when it comes to social media, realizing that instead of connecting us, it is now designed to outrage (and addict and mislead and depress) us. The evidence AGAINST consuming social media is now getting too large to ignore as just a Luddite expression.

Opinion: The Outrage Machine: Why Social Media Is Designed to Make You Angry

Opinion: Social media is teaching us to hate ourselves and each other

Also, for those that would like to argue that social media has positive sides to it, yup, I agree. Sometimes. But realizing that the FEED is meant to manipulate me was never a positive side.

If you'd like to get off the social media outrage drip machine, moving the app icons OFF of your smartphone's home screen is step 1.  Learning more about what the media is doing to you is step 2.

I plan on still sharing my opinions via this blog.

It's a grand return to the Internet of 2000, pull technology. If you want to read what I think, you'll have to come here. You will have to pull the information. You will have to think of me and purposely come here. I will not be part of a devastating machine that shoves (push) it to you.

God be with us all on this journey.