“What consumes your mind, controls your life.”
[dropcap]M[/dropcap]any bloggers found themselves in a state of anxiety over the weekend after learning about Instagram’s recent API changes. I didn’t bat an eye. If this had happened last year, I might have found myself in a similar panic. I remember a constant tightening in my chest as I waited to cross the threshold of 29k to 30k followers on Instagram. As if it were a magic number or goal that, when reached, I could finally breathe again. No social media channel or influencer network should have that kind of power over me.
Fast forward to the present day where, for the past few months, I have been deliberately and diligently blocking/unblocking profiles so they’d no longer be following me.
I was tired of putting on a fashionable facade for people who started following me when this profile reflected only a shell of who I really am. With each forced unfollow, I felt more weight lift off my shoulders. Influence had become more punishment than privilege. A tidal wave of relief washed over me when my follower count dropped below 20k.
The peace I’m slowly rediscovering as my follower count declines is something I wish for anyone currently in turmoil because of Instagram’s updates. We have inadvertently become slaves to social media companies. Reclaiming some semblance of autonomy by simply saying, “I don’t really care anymore,” can be revolutionary.