#24 - Instagram

<p>To help keep the podcast ad-free, please consider supporting the podcast for just $1 per month via Patreon: <a href='https://www.patreon.com/bipolarandsurviving'>https://www.patreon.com/bipolarandsurviving</a>.</p> <p>I run an Instagram account for another blog of mine.  I sometimes get emails asking me to sign up for this or that service, or have someone re-post my images, so that I can get more followers.  Apparently my images could get more views, or so they want me to think.  The Instagram account is for fun; it is mostly pictures of my cats anyways and doesn’t drive a whole lot of traffic to the blog, so it’s rather lighthearted and really is enjoyable.</p> <p> </p> <p>These emails telling me that I should have so many more followers has made me realize just how insidious this culture is.  Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy posting pictures of my cats and laughing at funny things, but I don’t do it for the likes or comments.  I feel, though, that so many people lead a curated life to show only their best moments, that they put up a facade and don’t show their true selves.  And, that causes them a lot of suffering beyond what they are experiencing already behind the facade.</p> <p> </p> <p>What I am really getting at is, Instagram culture is really bad for our mental health.  So, don’t stay on that platform, or any social media platform with images, too long.</p> <p> </p> <p>You’ve probably heard this before--that social media is bad for mental health.  But why am I singling out Instagram right now?  For one, it is the latest craze to be enduring.  There’s a reason Facebook bought Instagram; Facebook knew that eventually Instagram was going to take over a huge amount of its market share and user base.  And why is it doing so?</p> <p> </p> <p>Images play a central role in our lives.  After all, seeing is believing.  We put up images on our walls, along our highways, on our bodies, and most advertisements that one remembers have images or video in them.  Face it, podcast ads don’t usually make the memorabi