✖ why I deleted my Instagram?

✖ why I deleted my Instagram?

• Wednesday, 23 January 2019

If you've been following me for a while, you know that I disappeared, went completely MIA from Instagram for a short period of time. It kind of looked like all was going well, there was no sign of the things I have had gone through and while I was scrolling my old account, I felt like it wasn't mine - if you know what I mean.

I wanted to be on Instagram as myself. Not some sort of a random Finnish woman who happens to be some sort of a mum blogger while her life is all sunny days and daisies. I mean, don't get me wrong - my old Instagram was themed, it was insanely carefully thought, all captions and hashtags were planned and the struggle of growing the account was weighing on my shoulders.

✖ just another paper cut survivor, who also happens to be into photography, coffee, rock music & coding.

Instagram is such a mind-fuck app, don't you think? We are all loving and hating it at the same time. I recently read somewhere (would link the source here if I was able to remember where I read it from), that negative things are something people are more interested in, whether they want it or not. When something creates negative content, the engagement is better and it creates more conversation. And why did I brought this up? Because I believe that Instagram, as an app, is one of the most negative things I've ever stumbled upon. It's not the fault of its designers, it's not even fault of the Facebook.

It's not necessarily anyone's fault, in the meaning of the word "fault" but it's the way most of us are using it. The original designers left the whole damn thing shortly after Facebook bought the app. The team over at Facebook has come up with so many updates, that unless you're not willing to buy your followers there's no deal for you there until you've reached that magical 10k for the swipe up feature. The way people are using it, which is amazing and so very creative and beautiful, but while one after another is posting more beautiful, more creative and more amazing photos out there, it's easy to forget the fact that there are real lives behind those photos. Real lives, whose lives might not even be as glorious even though their instafeed might suggest you differently. #liveauthentic has lost its meaning.

However, those were just reasons why I think Instagram is such a negative app. It's not the reason why I deleted my Instagram account. I got sidetracked, and my ear is living its own life currently.
*types in Google "how long ear infections last"*

I kind of want to delete my instagram & start all over again and create a whole new account, hmm.. a threat or a possibility?😅😅

— Jasmin❄️ (@jjjasuliii) December 15, 2018

In December last year, I found myself thinking about deleting my account more often. I'd lose all my few thousand followers and like I've always rooted, I've never really cared about how many followers I had. I mean, it would have been nice to reach the magical 10k, but I wasn't obsessing over to the follower count. When I eventually deleted my account, I felt like a massive weight had lifted from my shoulders. Let's dig into that "weight" more closely, shall we?

✖ the followers
"But you would lose all your followers, doesn't it feel scary?" It actually didn't. It was an easy choice. I felt like I was following so many people I didn't actually want to follow (been slowly following the ones again I used to love, I just can't remember their handles) and I found the easiest way to declutter that all, was deleting the whole damn thing.

✖ the grid
My grid was filled with pictures of everything. But why I didn't just archive them all? It would have not been the same. I wanted to get rid of it all to start off from a clean table.

✖ the bio
As you look closely to my new bio, I haven't labelled myself as anything. I'm just another person in the world of Instagram, who just happens to be into a bunch of stuff. My previous bio told that I was a potato enthusiast, wanderlust, mum, blogger, and while I still identify as those things, it's just as all over the place as my old feed was.

✖ authenticity, the heat of the moment, instant photo-sharing
Those are three things I'm going to base this blog. Those are three things I'm going to base my Instagram. I don't want to plan ahead like a maniac, take a bunch of stress out of it and oh my, think in what order the pictures look perfect on my grid. If I feel like I want to post a picture of my wool socks, I'll be damn right to post a picture of my wool socks. I want to be in the moment. And with my old account, I wasn't.

So while I went from roughly a few thousand followers to less than 200, it was the best decision I've ever made. It's part of this whole identity crisis I'm going through and a lot like this blog, I want to make Instagram as my own. There will be things that I'm passioned about, sarcastic quotes, pictures from my travels and casual day-to-day stories.

Have you ever thought of deleting your Instagram?
Would you have the courage to do that?

If you want to check my new account out, here's where you can do so.