It’s been a long time coming, but I’m making the move away from Instagram. Again.
I’ve quit Instagram a few times; generally, because I just hate it. But then I go back. This time with the (valid) excuse of trying to build a following for my Art. But again, I found myself completely disillusioned with the Hellmouth that Meta have created.
There are several reasons.
Number one is my tendency to doomscroll and procrastinate. I’ve been struggling with the hold that smartphones and the internet have on us for a while, and I got rid of my iPhone around six months ago. That has given me a huge chunk of my life back. Despite having a dumb phone that I can’t install apps on, I’m still spending far too much time on Instagram (via the web app when I’m at my desk and via my tablet when not). I’m hooked. I like the comments people leave when I post a new painting, I like to see all the amazing art that my peers are creating. I like likes. Time spent scrolling is time spent not making art.
Secondly, bubbles. The way that I see a different view of the world through my black mirror that someone else does is problematic. I mean it’s dressed up as a ‘feature’, and rightly so. I want to see stuff I’m into on my social feed. But I’ve noticed that, especially since Israel started its latest genocide in Palestine, I see more and more left-leaning content. I’m very left with my politics but I do think the bubble is probably making me more left-leaning. That’s not a problem for me; I’m a balanced lad. But if I see loads of left-leaning stuff, then someone who’s leaning a bit to the right must be getting absolutely pummeled with right-leaning content, which is basically fascist these days. Which is problematic. Again.
Thirdly, and the nail in the coffin - the Zuck and his latest swerve to appease the Orange bell end currently in the White House. Removing fact checkers and driving ‘free speech’ is incredibly irresponsible and hateful. I want no part of it.
So I’ve joined Bluesky, like many others. I dont think i’ll spend much time there to be honest. My plan is to use my website more. Write blog posts, have a special internet-greeble auto publish to Bluesky. Use my mailing list more. And so on.
I do worry that it may be somewhet of a daft move, and could be detrimental to my career as an artist. I think that I’ve made the progress that I have made through work, but I do wonder if not having an active Insta-grid will turn some people off when looking at an application from me. We’ll see.
I like the idea of taking ownership of my content more, having more control over how it’s shared, used or accessed.
I’m on Bluesky, and also Mastadon - which is great, but not a lot of people are there. If you want to keep up to date with what I’m up to, then please sign up for my mailing list - as that’s where I’ll be pumping out all the hot goss.