We Need To Talk About Instagram

We can either be creators or consumers.

That’s true now, and it was true in every other era of humanity. You are either leading change or following it. Instagram loves to talk about itself as a creativity platform that supports creators. It isn’t true anymore, and we need to talk about it. 

Creating is generative, valuable, and aware; consuming is passive, disposable, and powerless. Of course, we are also consumers (fashion, beauty, food, fuel, content) but I often ask myself: Am I being generative or simply consumptive? Creating is freedom. Simply consuming is limiting yourself and depriving our world of your brilliance.

Instagram has shifted from creativity to consumption.

It has become a content streaming platform focused on monetization over community. Its goals are to keep you mindlessly captivated while showing you ads from companies they know you’ll find hard to resist. They know what we will buy before we do because we give them this data for free. They know how to access and stun the most primitive part of our brains with content we gain absolutely nothing from. Though it was a slow boil over many years, the effects seem to be felt more and more over the last 18 months. Users of the platform slowly stopped creating as the payoff was reduced over time. It was a deliberate strategy; Instagram prefers us to make high-view, low-substance content or not make content at all. The algorithm favors fast, loud posts that hold our attention as long as possible and keep us in the app. And it’s working. It is a formula. And influencers and “creators” no longer need or use creativity to achieve it. 

Over the last two years, my feed shifted from creative, original content to passive, homogenized, commercial material, or loud reductionist politics. Posts are often created by AI, or with generic templates, and void of authenticity, nuance, or perspective. I used to see poetry, art, content from designers in Melbourne, Mexico City, and Berlin, photos of my friends and their kids, and cool stuff from female-founded companies I support. I had great conversations and made real-life friends worldwide. I took creative risks with my posts and learned through feedback from my followers, whom I knew by name. It was my little village, and I strolled around it and contributed to it daily. Now, my feed is populated with content I did not choose–like a girl on the other side of the world eating blue crushed ice, cat videos, and people spouting ridiculous “logical fallacies”–punctuated by my favorite brands selling everything from lipstick to a $1000 silk suit. I’m captivated by this content, I admit, but I am not enriched by any of it, the opposite. I find that a lot of time passes before I realize I’ve lost it forever. I feel more alone, less informed and inspired, and, frankly, bored. I miss the sense of community and connection that was once the essence of Instagram.

“Creators” are consumers now.

If you are a “Creator” on Instagram, you are a consumer of its products and tools. Nowadays, you are just a part of their machine, and they use you to make money. Money is power. We are pawns in the battle for supremacy by tech oligarchs. Content does not get promoted in the algorithm because it’s inventive or original; it’s about stickiness and how many eyeballs you get, how fast, and how long you hold them. In order to be favored, you likely follow whatever everyone else is doing. You are the Influenced. You own nothing you make. You do not control your destiny. You are a consumer, not a creator. And, you will not prosper long from any of your efforts. It’s a constant cycle of adapting to their needs. That is not creativity. And, it’s not creating value for anyone but them. It’s not a sustainable cycle. Creativity and social networking are being washed away from social media in favor of consumption and monetization.

It’s time to build a new little town elsewhere. 

I invite you to join me here on Substack, where I will focus my content on building something impactful and lasting in the real world, which I have much experience with at Jeni’s and am embarking on again at Floura & Co. And creating a community that is connected, activated and inspired.

I hope to inspire you to be generative. If you can make something—a burrito, sweater, garden, skateboard, or poem—or make something better, you can create value for others. If you can create value, then you are not just contributing to lasting change, but also reclaiming your destiny from those who don’t deserve it. Creating is not just about self-expression, it's about taking a risk, and making a difference in the world. 

More very soon.

Love + more love,

Jeni

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