Thoughts on Instagram: part 3

I got this visual while watching the girls look out the window at Times Square on our recent trip to New York. There was so much to take in! So many bright and shiny lights. And stores. And people! Sidewalks crowded with person after person, each with their own story. This was by far the most humanity they had ever taken in.  

And I realized: this is sort of what Instagram is for us. 

There are over two billion accounts on Instagram. Billion! It’s amazing! Imagine all the different passions and interests and causes. There are so many things I want to learn about and invest in. “The inexhaustible variety” of Instagram. 

But much like a five-year-old trying to take in all of Times Square, it’s simply too much. I am human. I have limits and boundaries. Not to mention a life and a family outside of this app. 

Here’s what I have had to come to terms with: I can be passionate about something and not engage it on Instagram. This app shouldn’t be my one stop shop for consumption and compassion.

I know I don’t want an echo chamber where I never hear new ideas or am challenged, but I have to free myself from making Instagram my proverbial roller coaster for every human emotion. It’s too fast paced; too stimulating; too jarring. Both in good news and in tragedy, it’s a firehose when what I was made for is a simple cup of water.

I want to name what I care about and invest in those things in some way, but it’s ok if that’s not what I come to Instagram for. I cannot process it at the pace and scale Instagram offers. 

If you, like me, find yourself exhausted, overwhelmed, or numb after a scrolling session, I don’t think it’s because we are apathetic any more than I think Scout is weak for not being able to take in every big screen on Times Square.

We have limits. 

We need boundaries.

We aren’t cold-hearted.

We are human. 

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