I started using Instagram a couple of days ago. It was because it was important to be present on social media (especially Instagram having a billion users) being an author. It would promote me, my book, etc that’s what my agents/consultants told me.
Now if you see the profiles of other Authors, they display authors’ life, their pens, desks, releases, etc on Instagram. Every picture has its own story, and you have to post at least twice a week (I said “at least”). With almost a troubled week on Instagram, I drew the following conclusion. I hope my readers might agree with it!
Time-consuming – Pictures, Selfies, Hashtags, what’s on my plate, a community you want to follow, interests it all takes time. It had become so time-consuming that I couldn’t focus on just living my life! I was posting pictures at the dinner table, clicking selfies at coffee shops! It was just not me…I just couldn’t enjoy in my real life, though I looked happy in the picture!
Intense Study – Instagram has millions of users who accept payments for plugs and mentions, hashtag #Ad, and have to post several times a day to meet the requirements of a contract they’ve signed. To build a community of followers, you need to spend a lot of time studying and rewriting the post stories. It’s really a hard job, that may not yield any results for a couple of years or more.
The feeling of known heard and accepted – When my followers kept increasing, I felt I was heard, accepted. But in reality, does anyone care?
Mental health issues – It was only a few days and I have started to feel anxious about not posting or creating enough content to post! My followers yet not so many, and that made me anxious too…then I started thinking, really? I don’t need this.
This is true that social media can be very addictive and can make you feel more depressed and lonely.
Unwanted attention – When I thought I was creating a community of followers, posting good pictures, promoting my book and its content, I started to receive unwanted messages from boys and men. People writing to me Hi, Hello in private messages all the time. When I began to chat with them, I realized these men or boys had nothing to do with my content or my work but were merely following me because they liked me in the pictures and wanted to meet me up in person. Few wanted to date me. Few needed some female company to chat with!
So if this is Instagram all about, then I am happy that I quit!