i used to feel the exact same way, i had around 3,000 followers (mostly people i didnāt know) and my account was public. i didnāt want to feel that way because its literally MY account so why should i be bothered about other peopleās opinions ect. so, i made my account private and i spent a few days slowly deleting people until i was left with those who i know and love and who wouldnāt make me feel any type of stress or anxiety. now i post whatever i want, when i want and feel great about it!
your close friends (or anyone who brings light and encourages you to authentically be yourself) are the only people you need. i promise. instagram is so so so evil when youāre constantly stressing about impressing people or tailoring your internet prescence to look cooler. as someone who has been chronically online for > 10 years it is SO REFRESHING to just hit restart and have 20 people following you. Like ā¦. make that finsta your main! tell people you ādonāt really use instagramā unless you genuinely want them to see you! itās sooo freeing and fun to not have a social media presence you care abt
it feels so good to watch content you actually do wanna watch.
i regularly clean my following list. i only follow good friends and i only follow influencers, who dont make me want to die after watching their content. personally i hate those clean girl aesthetic influencers or those people who show off their bodies that look heavily edited. thats just not real life at all. i always felt bad about myself after seeing someone be so skinny or so strong. but those influencers never tell you their journey. they never tell you how to get there, and they certainly never tell you that it isnt real. they only show you their best side and it looks like theyre like that at all times 24/7. i mean, i get it. especially instagram can get soo toxic, that you dont want to show your real self.
or those influencers that try to sell you stuff youll probably never ever need in your life. i see those amazon finds tiktoks on my fyp and i think to myself: who the fuck needs those products? you almost always can use different things you already have in your home.
on tiktok i also click on not interested every time i see a tiktok im not interested in. if you click on details you can actually decide what irks you about it and give a reason why you dont want that on your fyp. and if you encounter someone really negative, block them.
normalise blocking people and accounts, please. i found so many racists and homophobes on my fyp, and i really do not need that. blocked. i never have to see them again. it really is that easy. i genuinly advise you, that you follow people who teach you stuff. especially if its your interest or hobby. learning by watching random videos or posts on your feed is sooo much better than having an existential crisis.
i follow cleo abram on youtube for example. she makes positive science content and i really enjoy it. and i follow kurzgesagt, too. its better instead of watching videos that tell you nothing gets better or makes you insecure. that only destroys your day. im not telling you to only listen to self help podcasts or only watch those mental health influencers, not at all. if thats not your cup of tea, than dont do that.
i just want to tell you guys that cleaning your feeds really is good for your mental health. and ive always said that.
Honestly, it feels kinda liberating š§āāļø Most of the people I had on there were my high school friends. Ever since I moved to a different country for uni, weāve naturally drifted apart. We donāt really keep in touch anymore, whether itās video calls, texting, or anything else.
I kept it for so long because I thought it would be nice to see what my high school friends were up to and maybe update them on my life too. But after some serious journaling and being honest with myself, I realised thereās really no point in holding on to it anymore. I was keeping it around to give myself a sense of false hopeāhoping that one day weād reconnect and things would go back to how they were. But deep down, I know the chances of that are pretty slim. Weāve all moved on and grown in different directions, and thatās okay.
black queer history is FULL of forgotten legends who have shaped mainstream culture and continue to have a lasting impact on fashion, language, art & performance. āØParis Is Burning immortalises and preserves the legacy and the stories of the people featured in this film along with the spaces, community and families they created for themselves in a society that consistently marginalised and discriminated against them. this is an essential watch!!!