That moment I realized my viral Instagram account was just making me miserable

Back in 2016 I had this account that blew up after I posted a video of my cat doing something dumb. Like 2 million views in a week. I spent the next 2 years chasing that high, posting 3 times a day, checking analytics every hour. Then last summer I was at a friend's cookout and my phone died. Sat there for 45 minutes just... talking to people. Realized I hadn't done that in years without checking my phone every 5 seconds. The account still has like 80k followers but I haven't posted in 6 months. Anyone else just walk away from their big thing once they saw how much it was costing them?

3 comments

3 Comments

marybutler2d ago

This is part of a bigger thing happening right now where everyone is realizing that the stuff we built for attention isn't actually giving us anything real back. The whole "hustle culture" thing around social media made us think we were working toward something, but it was really just feeding a machine that didn't care about us. It's like we all signed up for a game where the prize was just more game time. Walking away feels weird at first, but it's amazing how fast you stop missing the numbers once you're not looking at them all day.

grantw412d ago

Doesn't it feel like we spent years just feeding a slot machine that never paid out?

grantw412d ago

See, I don't know if I buy that. I got a real job, made actual connections, and learned how to write better from posting stuff for years, so it wasn't all just wasted time for me.