I have also been on an IG mental health break for what has now become 1.5 years. I still have my account, and I will open it if someone sends me a link, or if I have a specific reason to go and see a specific thing, but otherwise, I don’t open the app anymore. The funny thing is, I don’t miss it. At all. While I miss keeping up on the developments in my friends’ lives that I rarely keep in touch with, it also makes me wonder about those relationships and if IG is an excuse not to keep in touch with old friends. In any case, I digress.
It is interesting because I actually found you on YouTube first and never looked at your IG due to my own break. I then found your Substack when I realized you hadn’t posted on YouTube in a while and I wondered where you had gone (I must have missed the post about being on Substack somehow).
I think your content here is so amazing, and I am more than willing to pay for it. I’m also excited at the community you are building here with like-minded people (and I totally agree about the appreciation factor in people who pay the least). I am very excited to be apart of your journey here, and see how this experiment evolves.
Thank you for being so honest…for those of us who aren’t content creators it helps us peek behind the curtain so to speak. I think one of the biggest problems with IG is that so many content consumers there really forget that those creating the content are human too, and as a result they forget their own humanity in how they treat others on the platform.
Thank you Nicole, and thank you for supporting me too ❤️ so many great points you mention here, especially the peak behind the curtain.I’m the same in that if someone sends me a link I’ll open it but I even notice how ‘risky’ it feels doing that sometimes, I notice my brain is like ‘be quick! Get out and back to safety’ lol. I think that’s also the hard part is I just don’t miss it, but like i mention in this piece it’s very complex and maybe one day I’ll find a way to make it work for me on my terms, and…maybe i won’t. I’m open to both. Thank you for coming on this journey with me x
I feel totally the same way -- it's like, "quick! Open the link! Don't look at anything else! Close the app!"
Once I left IG, I was surprised to find that so many others have done the same, which I think is, in part, why I haven't found my way back yet. I do think there is room to find my way back on my terms, but in the meantime, I am so grateful that it is made space in my life to find other forms of content that have been more valuable than doom scrolling.
I am also surprised at how other forms of content create such a better sense of community than IG, which I think was IG's actual original intent. Here, we can engage in thought provoking conversation....the format of IG is meant to generate knee-jerk reactions and then quick! Onto the next!
Now, I am also more quick to recognize when content is having a negative effect on my emotions, which I am grateful for. For example, I am in the middle of examining how I feel about Reddit because the anonymity there also has the effect of people treating each other poorly. Even if the treatment isn't directed at me personally, I just don't need to bear witness to that kind of behavior.
I am so looking forward to this journey, and thank you for sharing your creativity with us, inspiring us, and for all that you do!
I feel about Facebook the way you feel about Instagram - I internally seize up and kind of brace myself when I think about opening it. And I have nowhere near the negativity you've had lobbed at you! (how do people excuse the horrible things they say?) But just enough negativity and seemingly deliberate misunderstanding... just enough people taking digs at me to make me not want to be there. So when I was already feeling very raw I just dropped away and I don't want to go back. There's probably a chart somewhere to describe the love-to-despair trajectory of most social media... or maybe I need to make one.
I am not a content creator (purely a consumer) and I found you on Substack and subscribed for free initially (as I do with the majority of my paid subscriptions, until I get a better sense of the content and how relevant/aligned it is with me and my context/lived experience/style aspirations etc.
I quickly became a paid subscriber as I was fascinated by how you were navigating not buying anything for a year - as an aside it continues to fascinate me - as it seemed counter to being a style centered writer!
But it is one of the things I love about engaging with your writing - I am not pulled constantly to buy, to click on a link for an item I suddenly must have based purely based on memetic desire. I am inspired to consider, to create, to curate …
This is my biggest challenge with Instagram - I enjoyed it so much when it started - I loved the visual inspiration it provided - the beauty of the still images - but increasingly I silence it as I scroll - not wanting to view reels or hear the music or listen to the voices that feel like they are competing to be heard. I want to soak in the beauty, be inspired, but I have become confused as to what I find beautiful or inspiring or thoughtful.
Instead I find myself wanting, wanting, wanting - (as opposed to longing for in a deeply felt sense).
I have developed strategies to counter the frequency of deliveries of items I could at worst, not even remember buying let alone wanting, at best a whim, a quick fix - but it feels like a constant pull.
I do everything I can to avoid the constant advertising -but it is unavoidable - and I find it more challenging to know what I desire, what I love to wear, what I want - as opposed to what this or that fashion influencer is wearing (often without having shopped for or spent money on).
I do not begrudge people who make a living in this way, I get it, I enjoy some of it, but I find a far deeper sense of wonder, inspiration and sensibility in reading long form writing with curated images.
As such I am more than happy to pay for the privilege of engaging with thoughtful content like your own xx
Wow thank you Samantha! For your kind words and sharing your experience, I relate to so much of what you said. And a huge thank you for supporting me and my work x
Me. I secretly have a love-hate relationship with Instagram, where I felt the only way to grow was to constantly perform by posting more. Nope! It's day 3 of my break. I feel reconnected to God because of it. It's been a while since I've been here. I am pivoting, rebranding, reflecting on who I am today—releasing who I thought I was—to embrace the latest direction on the other side of my expectations.
I can't help but think back to my first full-time entrepreneurship experience during the pandemic. God provided, sending clients without an active portfolio, website, or marketing. The doom-scrolling and comparison made me despise my gift of design and brand development. I am looking forward to what this hiatus produces because I can be intentional again, trusting God to bring the increase instead of depending on my own hands. I'll report back and continue watching your journey unfold. Be encouraged! Thanks for your honesty.
You’ve convinced me to finally paywall some of my future content. I have so many long form drafts with my thoughts, emotions and labor but I’ve been hesitant to post them because I see subject matter can be seen as frivolous. Just because I love it doesn’t mean it’s not work.
Same. I was making decent money on Insta with spon con but I'm just done. I haven't posted there since May this year and I don't care. Google killed my blog I have no idea what to do with it. I'm digging Substack lets see where it goes.
Harry, I am so glad our paths crossed! I am lucky I think sometimes because my followers seem to be a small, kind community. But I have definitely seen that in comments of others I follow. And I am just hurtling myself into this world, which for me is a great unknown and risky and vulnerable. Writing is my safest place. 😚
Firstly, I’m really sorry about the health situation. Hoping you find your way to a full recovery soon.
Secondly, I’m one of the people who paid!!! Just because I love your very thoughtful content and believe great work should be funded.
Lastly, so much of this resonated. I’m one of those who found you first on Substack then YouTube - and I honestly prefer the depth that Substack allows and encourages (not that your YouTube videos aren’t good!). I’m not a content creator, but I seriously struggle with IG.
On the one hand as a busy working mom with friends scattered all over the world, IG is a great way to stay in touch - thanks to IG, I get to stay up to date with my friends’ lives and we DM across time zones. I also enjoy using it to memorialise my life.
But it also triggers so much envy and coveting! Even if I stop following any influencers. The desire to compare is so hard to switch off. And it can be such a black hole, mindless scrolling being perfect for numbing after a tough day.
My solution has been to regularly delete IG for weeks, then download it for a weekend. So far, it’s helped so much!
Thank you so much for your comment Xue, and I’m so grateful for your support 💖 that genuinely sounds like a great solution. Sometimes I think about starting a private instagram just so i could see family and friends but I do like WhatsApp for that,but definitely food for thought x
I have also been on an IG mental health break for what has now become 1.5 years. I still have my account, and I will open it if someone sends me a link, or if I have a specific reason to go and see a specific thing, but otherwise, I don’t open the app anymore. The funny thing is, I don’t miss it. At all. While I miss keeping up on the developments in my friends’ lives that I rarely keep in touch with, it also makes me wonder about those relationships and if IG is an excuse not to keep in touch with old friends. In any case, I digress.
It is interesting because I actually found you on YouTube first and never looked at your IG due to my own break. I then found your Substack when I realized you hadn’t posted on YouTube in a while and I wondered where you had gone (I must have missed the post about being on Substack somehow).
I think your content here is so amazing, and I am more than willing to pay for it. I’m also excited at the community you are building here with like-minded people (and I totally agree about the appreciation factor in people who pay the least). I am very excited to be apart of your journey here, and see how this experiment evolves.
Thank you for being so honest…for those of us who aren’t content creators it helps us peek behind the curtain so to speak. I think one of the biggest problems with IG is that so many content consumers there really forget that those creating the content are human too, and as a result they forget their own humanity in how they treat others on the platform.
Thank you Nicole, and thank you for supporting me too ❤️ so many great points you mention here, especially the peak behind the curtain.I’m the same in that if someone sends me a link I’ll open it but I even notice how ‘risky’ it feels doing that sometimes, I notice my brain is like ‘be quick! Get out and back to safety’ lol. I think that’s also the hard part is I just don’t miss it, but like i mention in this piece it’s very complex and maybe one day I’ll find a way to make it work for me on my terms, and…maybe i won’t. I’m open to both. Thank you for coming on this journey with me x
I feel totally the same way -- it's like, "quick! Open the link! Don't look at anything else! Close the app!"
Once I left IG, I was surprised to find that so many others have done the same, which I think is, in part, why I haven't found my way back yet. I do think there is room to find my way back on my terms, but in the meantime, I am so grateful that it is made space in my life to find other forms of content that have been more valuable than doom scrolling.
I am also surprised at how other forms of content create such a better sense of community than IG, which I think was IG's actual original intent. Here, we can engage in thought provoking conversation....the format of IG is meant to generate knee-jerk reactions and then quick! Onto the next!
Now, I am also more quick to recognize when content is having a negative effect on my emotions, which I am grateful for. For example, I am in the middle of examining how I feel about Reddit because the anonymity there also has the effect of people treating each other poorly. Even if the treatment isn't directed at me personally, I just don't need to bear witness to that kind of behavior.
I am so looking forward to this journey, and thank you for sharing your creativity with us, inspiring us, and for all that you do!
This was such a thoughtful post, thank you so much for sharing and putting into words what so many of us are feeling.
Thanks Ruth x
I feel about Facebook the way you feel about Instagram - I internally seize up and kind of brace myself when I think about opening it. And I have nowhere near the negativity you've had lobbed at you! (how do people excuse the horrible things they say?) But just enough negativity and seemingly deliberate misunderstanding... just enough people taking digs at me to make me not want to be there. So when I was already feeling very raw I just dropped away and I don't want to go back. There's probably a chart somewhere to describe the love-to-despair trajectory of most social media... or maybe I need to make one.
Yes I’d love to see it!x
I am not a content creator (purely a consumer) and I found you on Substack and subscribed for free initially (as I do with the majority of my paid subscriptions, until I get a better sense of the content and how relevant/aligned it is with me and my context/lived experience/style aspirations etc.
I quickly became a paid subscriber as I was fascinated by how you were navigating not buying anything for a year - as an aside it continues to fascinate me - as it seemed counter to being a style centered writer!
But it is one of the things I love about engaging with your writing - I am not pulled constantly to buy, to click on a link for an item I suddenly must have based purely based on memetic desire. I am inspired to consider, to create, to curate …
This is my biggest challenge with Instagram - I enjoyed it so much when it started - I loved the visual inspiration it provided - the beauty of the still images - but increasingly I silence it as I scroll - not wanting to view reels or hear the music or listen to the voices that feel like they are competing to be heard. I want to soak in the beauty, be inspired, but I have become confused as to what I find beautiful or inspiring or thoughtful.
Instead I find myself wanting, wanting, wanting - (as opposed to longing for in a deeply felt sense).
I have developed strategies to counter the frequency of deliveries of items I could at worst, not even remember buying let alone wanting, at best a whim, a quick fix - but it feels like a constant pull.
I do everything I can to avoid the constant advertising -but it is unavoidable - and I find it more challenging to know what I desire, what I love to wear, what I want - as opposed to what this or that fashion influencer is wearing (often without having shopped for or spent money on).
I do not begrudge people who make a living in this way, I get it, I enjoy some of it, but I find a far deeper sense of wonder, inspiration and sensibility in reading long form writing with curated images.
As such I am more than happy to pay for the privilege of engaging with thoughtful content like your own xx
Wow thank you Samantha! For your kind words and sharing your experience, I relate to so much of what you said. And a huge thank you for supporting me and my work x
Me. I secretly have a love-hate relationship with Instagram, where I felt the only way to grow was to constantly perform by posting more. Nope! It's day 3 of my break. I feel reconnected to God because of it. It's been a while since I've been here. I am pivoting, rebranding, reflecting on who I am today—releasing who I thought I was—to embrace the latest direction on the other side of my expectations.
I can't help but think back to my first full-time entrepreneurship experience during the pandemic. God provided, sending clients without an active portfolio, website, or marketing. The doom-scrolling and comparison made me despise my gift of design and brand development. I am looking forward to what this hiatus produces because I can be intentional again, trusting God to bring the increase instead of depending on my own hands. I'll report back and continue watching your journey unfold. Be encouraged! Thanks for your honesty.
Thanks for sharing Janae x
You’ve convinced me to finally paywall some of my future content. I have so many long form drafts with my thoughts, emotions and labor but I’ve been hesitant to post them because I see subject matter can be seen as frivolous. Just because I love it doesn’t mean it’s not work.
Good for you x
Same. I was making decent money on Insta with spon con but I'm just done. I haven't posted there since May this year and I don't care. Google killed my blog I have no idea what to do with it. I'm digging Substack lets see where it goes.
Yes it’s such an interesting time and I’m fascinated to see where Substack goes x
Harry, I am so glad our paths crossed! I am lucky I think sometimes because my followers seem to be a small, kind community. But I have definitely seen that in comments of others I follow. And I am just hurtling myself into this world, which for me is a great unknown and risky and vulnerable. Writing is my safest place. 😚
I’m so glad our paths crossed too!Xx
Firstly, I’m really sorry about the health situation. Hoping you find your way to a full recovery soon.
Secondly, I’m one of the people who paid!!! Just because I love your very thoughtful content and believe great work should be funded.
Lastly, so much of this resonated. I’m one of those who found you first on Substack then YouTube - and I honestly prefer the depth that Substack allows and encourages (not that your YouTube videos aren’t good!). I’m not a content creator, but I seriously struggle with IG.
On the one hand as a busy working mom with friends scattered all over the world, IG is a great way to stay in touch - thanks to IG, I get to stay up to date with my friends’ lives and we DM across time zones. I also enjoy using it to memorialise my life.
But it also triggers so much envy and coveting! Even if I stop following any influencers. The desire to compare is so hard to switch off. And it can be such a black hole, mindless scrolling being perfect for numbing after a tough day.
My solution has been to regularly delete IG for weeks, then download it for a weekend. So far, it’s helped so much!
Thank you so much for your comment Xue, and I’m so grateful for your support 💖 that genuinely sounds like a great solution. Sometimes I think about starting a private instagram just so i could see family and friends but I do like WhatsApp for that,but definitely food for thought x
Yes but IG keeps serving up ads!! :(
Thank you so much for your great content and I really hope you get better