Sharing my perspective of instagram

amother

Sun, Nov 10 2024, 1:10 pm

I’m orthodox but come from a completely secular background, and our family’s standards are more modern but very firmly devoted to keeping Halacha. I therefore am able to be on social media, have a smartphone, do other things of the same notion, etc, if I want to. I made the decision about a year ago to limit instagram and delete it and have it on now for functional purposes (I save pages that have tips on parenting or home design, or come on as a limited break for 10 mins to check a parenting blog and other interests, I’m very good about it and don’t like to be on for longer)
I decided to check out someone’s followers today and saw pages after pages of the same: girls and guys and people who need to have PR and publicity with photos and photos of themselves. A guy who’s following a thousand different girls and celebrities and people all needing to update their stories. A page about what makes people worthy, like a men’s guide, just superimposing exactly what’s above mentioned; what’s worthy and not worthy according to superficial guidelines.
Ok, ok, at this point you’re saying enough: I know, I went to the asifa or heard about it, I deleted instagram or am shtark enough or too busy to have it. Or this discussion was relevant a year ago, but now we got over it. Fine. But that’s just not where it ends.
Because when I come onto imamother and see another thread about looks vs weight or social insecurity, being left out, feeling pressured/jealous to have brand items, feeling not pretty enough/broken, it may be not as convoluted and untznius as instagram, but it’s certainly as unhealthy. And that is heartbreaking and in no way am I justifying instagram in the least. But what I am saying - and this is my main point: The same energy behind these dynamics at play that create these nonsense social ideals on instagram are alive and well by many of our lives too.
I wanted to come on and say - to those who don’t have it and feel like they wish they would, that it’s truly really not so worth it. Get Pinterest instead so at least you’re not checking out people as much as the ideas you like, such as manicures or interior design. The herd mentality may LOOK good on the outside, but doing the whole social herd mentality thing is just yuck, convoluted and fake, it has 0 worth, when you go to shamayim it’s really all worth nothing. It’s just an upside down world and I’m so incredibly thankful to Hashem that I see through it and I’m not in a position to feel pressured that I need to post myself on social media “just cause” that’s what’s accepted in my professional field/career/in order to feel valued and accepted/good enough/worthy. I won’t even get into using it as a metric or criteria to compare oneself to others, which in my opinion, is far from normal or realistic.
And just a note: I don’t judge anyone personally for using it. If you’re using social media for work or your tafkid to get out to others to share a message - Yashar koach and Hashem should give you success within and outside of that. If you’re on the sidelines, wondering whether you should stay or go, or maybe even limit exposure more - I hope this made a difference in your decision. I definetly feel more peace of mind being off my phone. If you’re not on instagram but are wondering what to do more, please take a Kabbalah on being even more careful to not judge others as well as oneself on looks/weight/money/physicality/friends/yichus. I guarantee and give a bracha to everyone who wants to limit instagram or keep this Kabbalah - it’ll bring you more peace of mind, success, connection to Hashem and joy in your daily life IYH.