Why Instagram Makes Me Feel Lonelier than Before

Have you ever noticed that the more connected we try to become, the more distance we create? I feel like that probably says something about us as a society but I'm not here to debate that.

I spend a lot of time on social media. Specifically, I create content on Instagram, mostly split 90% hobby and 10% professional. Even so, that 10% takes up a ton of time and requires engagement to be successful. You would think I would be the happiest social butterfly on the planet. You would be wrong. Instagram has made me lonelier than ever.

When you think of Instagram, you likely imagine Insta baddies and cherry emojis, and that's definitely a fairly accurate representation, but I consider it a cheap shot. At this point, it's such a trope, isn't it? Everyone on Instagram is FaceApped to hell and back and everything they sell you is sponsored. That isn't to say that I excuse it, but I've come to expect it.

That also isn't to say that those people don't make me feel like an isolated loser, because they definitely do. They just happen to hit the mark in a different way.

Well, probably not. But it still stings and it hurts your reach, which is important if you're trying to make money on Instagram. Getting old and stale sucks - the world just spins around you and pushes you away when you're inconvenient. At least, that's how Instagram makes me feel.

Now, trends are one thing but if you start to swing in the extreme direction, you'll land in Uncanny Valley. I know it's happened to you because it's happened to me: the exact same product, brand, photo, meme - every other post the same. There's never anything new added and no true value ever provided. I get it - we all get the same PR around the same time, but where's the creativity? Where's the individuality?

Part of the reason it's so damn hard to make connections on Instagram is that no one displays their true personality in favor of being perceived as "brand friendly." There's a weird "Instagram Microinfluencer Voice" that comes out when people come to Instagram. Pay attention to the influencers you follow and really read their captions - you'll see it. And then you'll never stop seeing it.

It's an unnerving fishbowl feeling watching everyone around you showing the same products and promoting the same sales and saying the same buzz words. It feels like a form of social dissociation and it's equal parts scary and isolating. Of course, you have to have a healthy dose of self-doubt and wonder why you're the only one who wasn't invited to Uncanny Valley, because that's what Instagram is all about.

Do you want to hear the worst part? The truly frustrating, incredibly depressing truth? Ten percent of Instagram users are bots. That's nearly 100 million fake accounts floating across Instagram at any given moment. I would guess a pretty large portion of my followers are bots. More terrifying, I'm almost certain I'm following a few bots.

Imagine that: interacting with accounts that may not even be real people. Now, my bot-to-person ratio is probably miniscule, but in an already lonely landscape, it's isolating to think your hard work is being sent into the void. The idea that some of my views, some of my likes and followers, are essentially fake really makes me wonder what the point is. Obviously, that's not true and it's a defeatist attitude for something petty, but it does stifle my ability to be creative. It makes me feel like my opinions are meaningless and my art is uninspired.

Instagram has opened some awesome opportunities for me and I'm surrounded by some crazy talented creators, for which I am grateful, but it's hard to feel I'm making any true difference. Between the bot accounts, the obviously fake but ignored sponsored posts, and the ever changing trends that are impossible to keep track of, it's getting harder to put in the effort I once did.

I mean, if I wanted to be lonely, I would have stuck to real life.