Dear loyal readers,
I am deeply sorry for my sudden departure from this column. You know I love Maia on the Mic as if it were my child, and I am deeply grateful for any attention it’s given. However, it seems as though a certain law school entrance exam has taken over my life for the time being. That’s all I’ll say for now.
Now let’s get back to business. If you’re a close friend (or possibly just an acquaintance) of mine, you may be wondering: “Maia, where did your absolutely fabulous Instagram account go?”
And if you’re not in either of those categories mentioned above, well, you probably weren’t wondering that.
This inquiry into the disappearance of my beloved Instagram account makes perfect sense. I’m sure hundreds of my followers stalk my feed on the daily and have completely lost their minds now that it has vanished into thin air (though I’m sure there’s still a digital footprint of it somewhere). I’m here to clear up all of the confusion — and hopefully create a written account of the mystery to direct people to when they ask me in the future.
I should start from the beginning. For me, my Instagram has always been more than just another stop on the social media train. It was a personal scrapbook of my favorite moments of my life. Almost every birthday, special occasion or major life event has been documented in the form of either a story or a formal post. My very first post was from the set of a music video I was in (don’t ask, it was a random side quest). Sharing this personal life event with my fellow middle schoolers empowered me, and ever since then I have been completely captivated by the app.
The passing years brought with them an increased usage of my personal feed and the brand-new features the app developers would sporadically roll out, though I happened to be a pretty big hater of the stories feature when it first popped up on my screen.
I’d actually like to focus on the rise of stories for a moment — and argue that they have led to the demise of an organic Instagram. At first, they were seen as being appropriated from Snapchat (since, you know, stories were basically the essence of Snapchat’s entire brand). But then, Instagram users everywhere collectively decided to accept the new feature with open arms. Now stories are arguably utilized even more than actual grid posts.
Why did we lose the plot? Instagram was meant for casual posting with quirky filters. Your followers were supposed to know when you took your cat to the vet through a post of him posing on the table with a caption reading “Get better soon Whiskers!” What happened to the endless stream of unsaturated selfies reading “Felt cute, might delate later?”
Now, it feels like you can only post if you’re on a yacht in Positano. Posts and, more specifically, carousel posts (or dumps) have become so unoriginal. The pressure to conform to the standardized formula for these dumps has sucked all of the life out of my feed; I’m scrolling through an endless stream of posts consisting of the perfect mix of solo, group and scenery pics. And they all look exactly the same.
This may seem like a harsh take coming from someone who invested so much time into her own feed. Let’s be clear: I took it extremely seriously. But for some reason, being on the app has just become so anxiety-inducing and unfulfilling. I can’t even really pinpoint why, but I just know how it makes me feel.
The pressure to put out one big highlight reel has gotten to me — I’ve become too caught up in the image of myself I’ve created online. It’s a feeling I never thought I would experience, but now that I have, I really hate it. I’ve always prided myself on not caring about what others think of me, and if I have any chance of restoring this pride, I think I need to take a step back and reassess.
This leads me to confirm everyone’s greatest fear: I have, in fact, deactivated my Instagram account.
If you know anything about the difference between deactivation and deletion, you may have gathered that this is not a permanent decision. I can restore my account whenever I choose to. Maybe I will one day — could be weeks, could be months, who’s to say. I just hope this much-needed break from the madness will restore my love for the creative side of the app.
Maia Mehring is a Lifestyle co-editor on the 143rd editorial board. She is a junior in the School of Industrial and Labor Relations and can be reached at mmehring@cornellsun.com.
