Dear Instagram

Dear Instagram,

 

For the past couple of weeks I have had a love/hate relationship with you. I’m sure you’ve heard this from so many people and at this point you’ve given up on trying to please everyone.

I just feel like I should let you know how I feel and maybe this will help me just get over it.

I’ll start with the things I love first:

1.Explore Page!

I like this for “business” and personal reasons. The explore page gives you the opportunity to get noticed and get more exposure which is cool for content creators. I also find myself getting lost in the Explore page when I get bored watching funny videos, dancing videos, slime videos, cute baby or puppy videos, and the list goes on!

2.The addition of actually cool features.

I love that you can add GIFS, music, polls, love meter and now questions to your insta-stories! It’s just a cool way to interact with people and I’m here for it.

3.Creating new friendships & relationships.

I honestly love meeting nice genuine people. I love just interacting with people and getting to know them. My favorite is when ya’ll DM me about something I post and then we continue to have a full conversation. Call me weird but I love making connections!

4.The fact that I can BLOCK weird people.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart Instagram. Honestly, I get some weird DM’S and some people are very persistent. It makes me feel more comfortable that I can block someone and there is no way for them to see my stuff anymore.

5.The opportunity to make money.

Obviously this is a big one because I’m a blogger and so it’s important that I have that opportunity.

Now onto the juicy part, things I hate:

I can already hear my husband saying, “hate?” that’s such a strong word so maybe “dislike.” Sure we can go with that too.Strongly dislike LOL

1.The instagram Algorithm.

Of course. It makes things so much harder and creates so much extra work for people like me. You have to do more to get your content noticed and appear in your followers’ feed. The good ol’ days is when everything was chronological because eventually people would see it if they just kept scrolling LOL.

2.The intense competition to be something you’re not.

Idk if this is Instagram’s fault necessarily but I feel they definitely contribute.  People are constantly trying to go above and beyond. And not in a good way. Showing skin, showing a lifestyle you don’t live, and just plain being fake. I heard a blogger rant on her insta story once, ” Do I have to be half naked to get more attention?” Enough Said.

3.Temporary Bans.

These can happen when Instagram thinks you’re liking too many pictures, commenting too fast, adding/deleting too many people at once, and I’m sure the list goes on. These temporary bans typically last 24 hours. I personally don’t like it because I like to respond to comments that people leave on my pictures and sometimes I wanna just knock them all out. Well if I do too many at once then Instagram will restrict me because they want to “protect the community.” I’ve seen this happen to other people too and it’s just lame. I get trying to restrict bots or whatever but I’m a real person. Maybe they can install a feature where something pops up where you verify that you’re human and you can go on your merry way.

4.Rumors of getting shadow banned.

Shadow banned means you’re banned from the instagram community but not the app itself. For example, your picture won’t appear in hashtags you use so it limits your ability to reach a larger audience.  Rumors are the worst because there’s never any certainty or confirmation that it’s real. I would love if Instagram would just come out with a statement addressing all the rumors and what is restricted/what’s not restricted. Ive read so many stories of people getting banned and they have no idea why!

5.No customer service department.

Any time you have a problem or a question, you never get to actually talk to someone. This bothers me because I like talking to people either on the phone or at least through email. You have to report your problem but then that’s it, you don’t know where your problem goes after you type it out. So did you get my problem or??? In the most recent week I’ve heard of several blogger/influencers getting hacked and almost in all cases Instagram did/has done nothing.

Lets be REAL:

Alright, my rant is over and I feel much better now. Those things “I hate,” can be very superficial and may not even matter to so many people that are not content creators, bloggers, influencers, etc.

I do know that many can relate on some of the negative effects of being on social media.

Social media can really have a toll on you if you let it.

You start to compare yourself to other people and that’s when you need to stop. There is no need to look to the left or to the right, just look ahead. Focus on your path and your journey.

“A flower does not think of competing with the flower next to it. It just blooms.”

So when you’re scrolling through Instagram and you see a picture that makes you envious of what they have, hit the unfollow button. The people you follow should serve as inspiration, entertainment,  you want to learn something from them, or you genuinely  like the person they are!

I say this to not only remind you but to remind myself.

You are enough.

I am enough.

They are not perfect, you are not perfect, I am not perfect.

And that is OKAY!

 

Thank you for reading and as always thank you for the support!

It’s been real.

 

xoxo,

Liz-Laugh-Love