Instagram is…weird

For the most part, I enjoy social media. I'm a visual person and I like seeing all these amazing and beautiful things other people share. It's also really cool to find other artists, etc out there and sort of become online friends. Weirdly enough, this is also what I don't like about Instagram (there's other issues as well).

Awhile ago I stupidly downloaded an app that lets you know how many followers you gain/lose, and I didn't realize how bad of an idea that was (originally I thought it would be interesting to track). Of course people are always going to unfollow you, and that's fine. What was hard was seeing people I knew, i.e.: artists I admired, schoolmates, and some of my favorite local shops, all unfollow me. I guess it didn't bother me too much until last week when an artist who I admired and chatted with every now and then all of sudden unfollowed me out of the blue and I kind of thought…what? What did I do! Too many cat photos? Regardless, the unfollow app is getting deleted, and I'm no longer looking at who follows OR unfollows me. I suppose it really doesn't matter, right?

I like sharing photos and I like viewing other's photos, and really it should be left at that. Sometimes I think we get too caught up in the likes and dislikes that it begins to ruin the whole experience. You shouldn't care how many people liked or didn't like your selfie, if you want to post a photo of yourself just do it and leave it at that. Mean comments? Ignore them or delete them. I think social media is good/bad, but the good is sharing the human experience and being inspired by what others have to say. Plus sometimes it's fun to just look at cute cats.