There. I said it. If you ask, I’d gleefully tell you ‘oh, I’m not really on Instagram.’
Except I am.
I’m not posting, no no, I’m scrolling. I see posts, but I don’t like or comment. I get lost in the *discover* page. I follow all sorts of new accounts and then wonder who these strangers are on my feed. I doomscroll the hours away and kick myself not being a content creation machine.
I look idly on and I think maybe I should do a day in the life montage! Maybe I should do a Sunday reset! Maybe I should make my dog his own page!
There’s a few things to unpack here:
Honestly, who gives a shit?
A reset? Isn’t that just tidying up? Like a bare essential of living.
Yeah, I probably should give Murray his own page as he’s bloody adorable, but that’s one for another day.
So it goes that I log on, I have an internal crisis, I delete the app. Lather, rinse, repeat.
Why am I wanging on about this?
Essentially, it’s because I had a bit of an epiphany while I was meditating one - which sounds like I’m gunning for a few extra ‘smug twat’ points but actually just illustrates how bad I am at it, as I get distracted thinking about social media.
ANYWAY, I was thinking about it and the thing is, I like Instagram. Because I’ve made a point of largely following accounts that don’t make me feel bad about myself, I find it’s a relatively pleasant place to be.
When I have to consider *jazz hands* marketing myself, it makes me cringe. So so bad. I hate it. It’s gross. I don’t want to do it. But actually, as a Budding Author™ I need to reach people. I need to reach the smart women who will want to read my words, and a lot of them are hanging out on Instagram.
They too are bemoaning the dumb algorithms and how they don’t really know how to feel about Instagram anymore - just like me. But whenever I considered just getting back on the weird social media train, my mind inevitably turned to colour palettes, scheduling, HOW WILL I EVER ADD VALUE IF I DON’T KNOW THESE THINGS. Heaven forbid I just use social media to talk about writing because I enjoy it.
Imagine, enjoying social media. That can’t be right. It’s terrible! It is, in unfathomable ways, indeed terrible on many levels. But when used in a way that works for you, it can be kinda fun.
So I decided once and for all, I will stop the scrolling! Kill the comparison! Leave the lurking behind!
I’d love to say there’s no rules to using Instagram, except depending on what you want out of it, there absolutely is. I’ve literally told clients the rules of social media. When to post, what to post, what to avoid etc. I thought if I couldn’t follow the rules, then I was doing it wrong. And doesn’t that make me some kind of hardened fraudster?
Then I finally realised with a little help from my friends that actually, I’m not a business. I’m not a sales generator. I don’t derive income from my Insta page - although if anyone from Yorkshire Tea is reading this and wants to hit me up with free stuff, that’s cool.
I’m just a woman. Just a writer who wants people to read her words. Why am I dicking around worrying about using the right shade of purple for my posts?
So I decided to stop it. Crack on with the days, get to posting again and I decided to bloody well enjoy it.
Join me, won’t you?
Thank you for sharing a bit of your time with me babes, I truly hope you have a lovely day.