Rethinking My Relationship with Instagram

I have an Instagram problem. And it’s been messing me up.

Silly! I know! How could I let a social media app cause such turmoil?

Let me explain.

A few weeks ago, for no apparent reason at all, Instagram stopped allowing me to post Reels. For the uninitiated, “Reels” are videos, TikTok copy cat videos basically — short, catchy, entertaining videos that can lead to massive time suck and an expanded audience. Each time I tried to post I would receive a message that I have been prohibited from posting in order to “protect the community”.

Protect the community from what? Timelapse videos of me drawing and painting!? Um….

So I dug deep. I had no violations. No flags. No reports of breaking community guidelines. I filed reports with Instagram detailing the errors, asking for an explanation. For three weeks, I filed at least one a day, with no reply to any of them. I deleted the app then reinstalled it. Several times. I tried using different devices (phone, laptop, tablet). I googled and reddited every thing I could and found no fixes, no situations quite like mine. Nothing. All paths led to the same prohibitive result: no Reels for you!

So what? you might say. Who cares?

Trust me, there was a time when I would have agreed with you. But not now. I’m in too deep! I’ve put all my social media eggs in the Instagram basket because it is the de facto app of the art world and posting Reels — according to Instagram itself — is the number one way to grow and reach a wider audience.

Yes, I want to grow. Heck yeah I want a wider audience. I want to sell my art! I have too much and it needs to go!

But I can’t seem to post Reels. Hm. What to do?

I took some time off hoping that would fix it. I have had bizarre glitches affect my account in the past and after some time off they all seemed to right themselves, especially when updates roll out.

This time the break didn’t work. Situation normal all fucked up. Can’t post Reels.

But something happened during that time off that reminded me this is not the end of the world. I realized that Instagram had become just another chore of things for me to do because I wasn’t doing it on my terms. I was doing all of the things that all of the influencers and all of the artists more successful than me were saying. The end result was that my content strategy was taking over my life and my art work! I wasn’t making that much progress anyway. At the time of writing this I have 815 followers. Whoopty doo. Who cares? No one.

When I start making creative decisions based on Instagram and what I think it might favor in widening my audience, I am doing myself a huge disservice. I’m DOING IT WRONG.

And in an environment where we, the users, don’t really have any control, I think it is best to just stay true to one’s self and principles rather than doing what everyone else says you should do. The truth is, at any moment these apps can ban, de-platform and cancel you. And then what?

Might as well do it my way and let the chips fall where they may. I value my own mental health over my social media status. And people sold art before social media. Shocking! I know!

So I’m gonna do it differently from now on. I’m not going to obsess about posting every day. I’m not going to fret over which song to use or which filter or what time of day. Reels or not, I will do what I can — whatever the app allows me to do. And I’m going to do whatever I feel like in regards to elevating my artwork. That is the goal. Everything else is just bonus.

For now, I’m still able to put up regular posts to the feed (albeit with some added difficulty, like not being able to link any of my store products to the post, a vital move for anyone trying to actually make a living off exposure from IG). Somehow I am able to post live videos with no problem. And my stories section seems to be working fine (except, again, not being able to link my store products).

I will roll with the punches while I can. If nothing ever gets fixed I’ll just go somewhere else, like YouTube or Twitch or the library. Ha! Who knows.

Got these lemons… let’s make lemonade!

What is your overall experience/relationship with Instagram? Tell me in the comments!