First impressions after getting back on Instagram | nand infinitum<br>FIRST IMPRESSIONS AFTER GETTING BACK ON INSTAGRAM
I made an Instagram account in August 2025 (started actively using it in November 2025) and collected some thoughts around using the app. Full disclosure that I am not a newbie to Instagram; I first joined it circa 2013 and used it quite a lot until early 2018 when I permanently deleted my account.<br>I will caveat by saying that I understand majority of the text below is fairly obvious to someone who has used Instagram their entire life and I’m about to get hit with the “tech bro discovers social media1 is for socializing” troll reactions/comments. I welcome them.<br>Benefits#<br>Social life boost#<br>I feel that my social life has improved tremendously<br>It is so much easier to stay in touch with someone over Instagram vs. via phone numbers since people post stories/posts you can react to and whatnot, which makes it easier to reach out<br>Sending reels and memes to people you enjoy talking to keeps the relationship fresh.<br>Network#<br>It is easier to keep a network this way. You get to see what mutuals you have with newly-made connections which can be a conversation starter.<br>It has also become a lot easier to date since you get to build social proof. Potential partners are much warmer to you if you already have some mutuals.<br>Relatability#<br>Ironically, I’ve found that it has also become easier to relate to people in the real world. Since you are in the loop with all the latest news and how the general public perceives it. For example, within a few minutes of talking to someone new, you can make an educated inference on their media diet and drop an edgy Netanyahu joke that would instantly make the conversation more enjoyable. Also, you can share reels and memes.<br>I also think my sense of humour has improved a fair bit.<br>Fashion#<br>I am yet to truly experience this but I think I have a better sense of what constitutes as good fashion. One under-appreciated benefit of being chronically online is that you get exposed to literally all kinds of everything including style and fashion.<br>It makes it easier to find inspiration for your personal style and what may work given your features. You also get exposed to so many people that you inadvertently find people who look like you, that are pulling off a better look than you, which means you can copy them and try it out for yourself.<br>I’ve become a lot more open-minded about fashion/styles. Some of the ridiculous outfits I used to see down the street are no longer so ridiculous to me. When I see someone with an idiosyncratic outfit, I sometimes think they are just a lot more cosmopolitan than I am. And who knows, maybe we’ll all be wearing that in 10 years.<br>Downsides#<br>Doomscrolling#<br>Doomscrolling is an insane time sink! I definitely underestimated how addictive Instagram can be. The speed at which the algorithm learns what you like is frighteningly fast, and the accuracy of the suggested content you get is also very uncanny. When I last used the app in 2018, the algorithms were nowhere near this good (or fast!). I can’t even decide what’s more impressive, the speed or the accuracy but I will say Meta’s ML spend is very high ROI.<br>One of the reasons why my relationship with social media soured back in 2018 was because I learnt of the incentives behind them. Prompted by the popular slogan: “If the product is free, you’re the product”, I came to understand that social media companies are just advertising companies that use engagement numbers to set higher ad prices (and thus make more money). This is one of my first encounters with the sharp canines of capitalism that will chew through anything that stands in the way of profit maximization; including your attention span!<br>I’ll add a side note here that Instagram does not count as entertainment. I had a lengthy discussion with my sister not too long ago where she argued that she uses social media as a way to entertain herself before she goes to bed. I gawked at this at the time but I have actually heard similar takes from other friends who say that they doomscroll at the end of the day as a substitute for watching a show/reading etc. I have unintentionally experimented with this and I did not find doomscrolling to be a restful activity at all. At the end of my doomscrolling sessions, I usually feel like my senses are heightened (probably because of all the triggering content) and I often find it harder to sleep after. In fact, I have taken this to the extreme at times and used Instagram as caffeine after a bad night’s sleep. In case you are curious, it doesn’t work very well.<br>FOMO#<br>Career FOMO#<br>As much as you may try and avoid it, the sinking feeling that you are not doing enough is pretty brutal. This is probably just selection bias, where the content that is most likely to get popular is content that features outlier events (e.g. 25 yr-olds...