Rambling (Ranting) Thoughts:

Instagram, Food, and Mindlessness

God I hate the new (not so new anymore) Instagram format. I always loved the social aspect of sharing updates with close friends and family but over the years Instagram has distanced us from our close friends and have insisted that we “explore” others posts and now video content. This was a shift no one asked for but all of us experienced collectively (if you used the app). Now we were all exposed to content created by people we've never met showing off their lives and broadening our horizons to a mostly curated non-reality. Remember when we all started making finstas? I feel like this was a reaction to the constant overload of everythingness that was available to us on our feeds and we all craved something more intimate. I made one of these accounts that I eventually left to die but if you know me you may remember my food Instagram iscarlyvegan.yes. (If you didn’t know, now you do, I am no longer vegan. But it won’t be shocking to know that I still eat mostly whole foods/ plant based, but now I have made room in my diet for farm fresh eggs and intentional sources of animal products when it is in total alignment with my values). Anyway, this account for me was that intimate blog space where I shared my food and cooking with my friends and family and some extra followers in my circle. It was a way to share my current happenings with my friends in a casual way involving food, one of my absolute favorite things. I wrote update-like captions informing people of what I’ve been up to and what I’ve been eating.¹ On the posting and interacting-with-posts side of it all it was lovely and I was always quick to share my account with others. What I absolutely hated was the video feed on Instagram that would show me the most irrelevant content that I could not escape when the explore page found its way onto our home pages. I was now seeing (on both Instagram accounts) media content that I didn’t desire to consume yet was spending way too much time consuming in its infinite scroll, targeted advertising manner. What I felt when using this lame excuse for a social media platform that it was all just becoming an advertising platform and we are the commodity. I found all the genuineness of sharing ideas and stories to be tainted by the sponsored posts and started to feel disconnected from it all. I wanted to have that platform to share ideas and interact with likeminded people without the extra tik-tok-esque features.

I see friends and family close to me, literally in the same room, absorbed into their fakebook or Instagram feed, addicted to the funny videos, the targeted ads, the little red dot, the notification, the ding, the likes, the comments, the high of getting immediate positive feedback, the commodifying of our attention and spare moments, unable to hear other people speaking in the background, sucked into another world.

One of my goals for wwoofing was to stop using Instagram in such an unhealthy way, which I have narrowly achieved. After many efforts of deleting the app my thumb finally forgot the muscle memory of opening the app even when I didn’t really want to. Now I don’t have the app on my phone and check my feed on my laptop about every 2-3 weeks. I’m starting to love Instagram again because whenever I check it I have loads of friends' pictures to see and comment on and perhaps share a travel update as well. Finally, I’ve broken out of the mindless scroll world (for the most part since I still use YouTube occasionally, ofc). 

These days I’ve reconnected to reading (books and blogs) as I am just trying to reclaim my choice over who and what fills my spare time and uses my mental energy. Most people don't realize they had the free choice all along. After a long instagram video binge sesh I would feel anxious and mentally exhausted, which is the opposite effect I’d want after using up my prime me-time. I know this is true for my peers that fall into a mindless time-warp-insta scroll that makes the day seem to end faster, but I hope that we soon realize that our time and attention is limited so lets make it count while we still can.

If it's not too late then it's time we reclaim our own attention and free time. I hear people say they just need to relax and unwind after a stressful day so they watch videos into the night (I’ve heard it called the “adult pacifier”.) Our bodies and minds want us to relax at the end of a long day and it feels hard to focus inward on our thoughts and emotions regarding the world around us with that remaining mental energy. IDK if life is too much to bare that its easier to stare at a screen until the nights ends instead of bringing awareness to our thoughts (e.g. talking with close friends, yoga/meditating, doing a calming activity, even exercise) then priorities likely need to be shifted and it might be a good idea to reevaluate what you’re spending your time doing. We already spend so much of our day working and giving of ourselves. We should be able to let ourselves revel in the rest and feel purpose in what we do each day as individuals. Don’t give the remainder of your attention and mental capacity to the media companies that profit off your spare moments. Reclaim your moments! They’re so precious, fleeting, ephemeral. There’s no time like the present. Go out and do the thing. Care for your physical body, mind, and soul. Allow all of your perspectives and ideas to flow out of you and actualize before your eyes. Take that next step. Make that hard decision, set that boundary, take a leap of faith.

There’s more out there than the internet. !!Instagram is not real!! (Me shouting at myself). I want to soak up all the realness that is the bountiful, luscious Earth that is all around me. I can touch, feel, smell, hear, and taste the Earth and feel ever so present in a fleeting moment. That, I can hold onto. Literally swiping away at videos has never felt so antithetical to my goals and aspirations. I am no saint by any means and do in fact have a cell phone with the internet on it, and some rainy days allow my brain to make some space for youtube binges of course. Yet its how I spend the majority of the time that matters most to me so I may bring light to all I can aspire to do and feel. Balance in Key :) <3

I feel like I just put a lot out there and am by no means trying to preach or make anyone feel less-than for their media consumption. Like all vices, social media is highly addictive and can feel like it has so many positive aspects that often outweigh the cons. For me, personally, right now, it has been immensely healing and self-supportive to break my addiction to social media cold turkey and I feel I’m reaping some benefits. My own happiness is my highest priority so this is where I’m at.

More on this idea but steering in a different direction:

On my vegan food Instagram I was preparing a long post to share with people that I was no longer vegan for my health reasons and wanted validation that I was making the right choice for myself but I was so nervous to share on the vegan platform out of fear of judgment. I was almost sure that other plant-based eaters would be able to relate and assure me that I should just do what's best for me, but something about the Instagram format kept me from being so open. This was right about the time that we left for our farming adventure and I wanted to reexamine my relationship to food and animal products when living the farm life that was rooted in traditional sustainability principles. I knew that it was right for me (and my hormonal health journey) to make this shift yet Instagram was not the place for me to do so. Interested in sustainable local and seasonal eating? Me too! Lets talk about it.

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