Why I decided to leave Instagram.

I’ve been a huge fan of Instagram over the years and was an early adopter of the photo-sharing platform. I’ve witnessed the many changes and introduction of new “features” like stories, disappearing messages, reels, loss of chronological feeds, and a focus shift towards short-form video content on both Instagram and Facebook.

Over the years, I’ve seen the platform abandon its roots in favour of addictive algorithms that are designed to hook you and erode your attention. What makes it worse is the lack of choice on what Instagram and the parent company, Meta, show you. I’m no longer easily able to find my favourite photographers and their communities. Instead, I’m bombarded by ads and TikTok videos, not to mention wannabe influencers peddling infomercials disguised as educational content and self-help tips.

This week, I finally had enough. I weighed the benefits of the platform against my time, emotional and cognitive health, and decided to look for alternatives. Obviously, no platform has the reach Instagram does; however, I’ve had minimal user engagement, aside from bots.

Today, I decided to vibe code a website and host it myself as a way to express myself and my photos without experiencing social media brain rot. This experiment could backfire on me, or it could go well. Time will tell.

On this website, I’ll share photos, reflect on life, photography, and medicine. Likely, no one will care or read this, but it’s an exercise in reflection, gratitude, wonder, and contemplation.

Wish me luck!