If you follow me over on Instagram, you might have seen me on my stories saying my app isn’t working. I think now (after about 5 or 6 days) it’s a little better, so I’m keeping my fingers crossed. When I say broken, I mean that I still could post, but I wasn’t seeing anyone else’s pictures. I tried refreshing, deleting and re-installing, and even reporting the problem to Instagram, but nothing seemed to work until today when it’s getting slowly back to normal again.
Anyway, enough of the rambling, heres what I learnt about my Instagram being broken…
I SCROLL MINDLESSLY
I thought I was pretty good at being mindful online, and only going on when I had a decent amount of time spare to interact with people. But actually, I’ve realised how much I just scroll mindlessly, clicking ‘like’ but not commenting as much as I probably should of. I love getting comments myself, so I know how much it means when people like your pictures!
What I’m taking away from it: From here on out, I’m definitely going to try engage and leave meaningful comments more.
HOW IT’S MORE THAN JUST AN APP
For me, what I’ve realised the most with it being broken is how much I rely on and truly love chatting to the lovely, supportive community online. To me, it’s more than just an app. It’s friendships, encouragement, and if you use it correctly, it’s full of people who want to see you thrive. I could get all heart eye emoji’s over this, but I’ll try and refrain myself! I missed seeing everyone’s posts and updates on their life, and the heart-warming sense of community.
What I’m taking away from it: I think I value it so much more now than I did before.
IT’S A MAJOR SOURCE OF MY INSPIRATION
I was pondering the other day how I’d be if Instagram didn’t exist, and the word that stood out to me the most was, uninspired. I’ve always been a very visual person, and I adore the content that my favourite Instagrammers produce. It makes me feel creative, want to try new things, and not feel limited by my iPhone camera. Basically, it makes me want to create. I would definitely miss that if it ever went away.
What I’m taking away from it: Let people know when they’ve inspired me, and start seeking out new accounts more often to add to the inspo.
It sounds silly, but I guess that little app has taught me a lot. Has it ever taught you anything?