Why do I hate Instagram?

Disclaimer: This article is not for 25% of the world's population (aka social media users and enthusiasts). Unless they're willing to take a break from selfies and hashtags to read something other than their own status updates. No animals, birds, insects and microbes were harmed in the writing of this post. Human beings must be excluded!

I quote Wednesday Addams- "I find social media to be a soul-sucking void of meaningless affirmation."

Unlike 21st century human beings and people of Gen Z, I am not present on any social media handle, except LinkedIn for "networking and survival" reasons. But don't be perturbed, I will reveal my reasons soon enough as to why I choose to dodge the online world despite the number of times my friends try to force me into this digital circus. But if you want an answer now, I quote Wednesday Addams- "I find social media to be a soul-sucking void of meaningless affirmation."

Let me make it clear that I am not berating social media platforms in general and do acknowledge the many somebodies it has catapulted to fame and success, but let's be honest, I see no merit when I compare it to the immense demerits, particularly the infamous one at the moment- Instagram.

I cannot stand it. It has made human lives a living hellhole! Allow me to break them down individually.

1. The getting "life updates" façade:

   
   

   

   
   

   Time and again have I heard this sermon on how I can get to know about my friends situated in far and wide corners of the world by means of the famous Insta stories! Their achievements, birthdays, holidays, special days, date-days with their boo/ baes/ coochie-coos, mindful days, simple days, random days, even breakups for that matter; the list is endless. What's ironic is that this has resulted in a weird form of competition for more likes and followers and an unnecessary need to show how eventful or marvellous our lives are. I fail to understand those people who complain about the lack of privacy if your parents ask you about your whereabouts but would post making the next step towards dressing up (yes I am talking about you GRWMs!). Good luck if you are part of the underconfident, insecure individuals' club because your self esteem is going for a ball!

   
   

2. Insta's dearest, REELS!:

   
   

   

   
   

   Think of this- how many times have you thought of breaking the ice with someone and what do you see them doing? Or if someone is waiting for their group of friends? Scrolling on 30 second, mostly nonsensical videos called "Reels". First of all, why on earth are they so popular? I get it, hard earned happiness is tough to obtain but that doesn't mean we end up having accidents, fights, murders or break someone's head for the sake of "instant gratification". Secondly, do we really need to shrink our brains and attention span to the size of a peanut? (Yeah, experts said those lines) And don't get me started on its comment section- a negative cesspool at best! People never fail to amuse me when it comes to making anything beautiful filthy, literally and metaphorically.

3. Lingo-mess:

   Now this is mainly a Gen Z and succeeding generations thing, but it never made sense for reducing words into......... (I don't have the right word for it, but you get my point). Seriously, who came up with the idea of making beautiful words and phrases into whatever you call it? I mean, I used to think I was out of the loop on all this hip slang, but guess what? Turns out, my peers giving me the side-eye for being a dunderhead when it comes to this, are equally clueless! Now I can write long, proper and well-punctuated texts and maybe sign myself like Raymond Holt after every message without fretting about being weird! (You get the cue Brooklyn Nine-Nine fans.)

   
   

4. Influencer culture:

   Someone was right in calling them "glorified salesmen". How did the species which created technology, machines, aeroplanes fall for some self obsessed individual who instead of promoting critical thinking, self-improvement, or meaningful content, are just adding to the mindless noise we're all drowning in. Their posts scream "look at me, look at what I'm doing, look at what I'm wearing", shamelessly promote unnecessary products in exchange for money, perpetuating a culture of mindless consumerism that's destroying our planet and glorifying hedonism. Friendship has become a business deal, our insecurities are their currency, and they somehow believe they're entitled to it all without lifting a finger. Everything is "Influencer approved" for some reason-cosmetics, dresses and made all of us look like clones of each other. Personal style? What's that?  They truly are cancers on this earth.

   
   

5. Disruption source:

   I don't know where to start from because I have so many things to say on this. Every time I go to a party, a holiday, or brunch with my friends, I will always find someone recording anything and everything. Eating, dancing, food, walking towards the venue, the sun, trees, sky and more absurd things. They would've to take thousands of pictures of themselves and that too with the weirdest poses ever. I doubt your intentions on going on a holiday or cruise because you wanted to have fun or just to show people that you went on one?

   
   

   Now this nonsense is going to increase exponentially if you are in a group. Let me tell you a story, my sister had this acquaintance, she had spent the day with her gang and after she came back, she started wailing (I'm not exaggerating) and the reason being? She wasn't tagged on the Insta story where she had taken a picture with her apparently closest gals!! I thought she might have lost her valuables or so when I heard it at first. But moping over not being tagged? Seriously? 

   
   

   I have another story for you in case you don't understand what I meant. There was this person, let's call them Cameron (it's a gender neutral name I got to know, so feel free to assume this person to be whomever you want) who had broken up and later found someone. Sweet, but not really. Cameron wanted to celebrate their relationship with a post and soon came the comment apocalypse! The ex's best buddy wrote a spiteful, wrath-filled comment and within no time did it get messy with everyone's dearest getting involved and vehemently defending their people. Let the reader be reminded that all of this was going on public! Not on any dm or a group created! Publicly for everyone to see. There are many stories like this but I will free you from this rant soon. Just hold on for a bit more.

Now if you are thinking like the many individuals who ended up making inherently bewildered and shocked faces upon knowing my absence in Instagram, let me tell you my life is not all boring or different than you imagine it to be. In fact, I find it all the more interesting and PEACEFUL WITHOUT IT. I do have friends, that too awesome ones and I am staying in touch with them. I know what is happening in their lives from the very people and not by means of some story. Call me old school or "old" on my face (some person did and I do not take it as an offence) but friendships and networking were possible even without social media apps (Also being entirely dependent on online methods is also not helpful cause how many times did the very dear Insta ditch you at the time of Meta's server blips?). I get to know what is happening with the people around me even without being on Insta. Though I agree I might be unaware about some viral trend or new Gen Z lingo, that's okay, I can learn it at my own pace.

Jokes apart, all of us know that all these "Annual wraps" or POVs show partial reality of the person's life. I understand reels can be fun and are not time consuming, they cut to the point and acronyms are great for the ones who don't want to spend a lot of time typing.

But we can't help but compare their lives and think ours to be like a potato. I mean when do we homo sapiens try to make things less complicated for ourselves? We "love drama" now, don't we? This desperate need for validation or misconceived appreciation makes me doubt if people even believe in the things they post, particularly concerning opinions or the times when people would post pictures posing in front of holy shrines to show devotion or even celebrating festivals just for the sake of a post instead of knowing it's significance and I pray each day that what Moira Rose from Schitt's Creek said about social media being an amusement park for narcissistic people was not true.

Going to a therapist is becoming more and more common now because of the many mental stresses and inferiority complexes it develops among people, which often ends up in us making unfair, unnecessary and unreasonable comparisons between ourselves and the people whom we hold close. Why should we depend on some app for self worth or confidence? Our lives are messed up enough in that sense, shouldn't we try and make it as simple as we can? Ultimately, those who care will continue to do so. Our loved ones and special people will stay with us no matter what and those who never did would never do so, so whom are we trying to show?

So, to those patient ones who read till this line, all I want to say is look up, try to appreciate the original things and allow others to be themselves instead of being entirely naive and believing in some curated reality because there's more to this world than what is posted by somebody on Instagram. Go be that amazing friend that everyone wants instead of longing for one and trust me, life is more merry with the 5 people who matter rather than your 3K followers!