#Insta-fedup!

Do you know that feeling you get when you think you my have left the oven or the iron on?

That feeling of dread but also the confusion that you can’t remember switching it off but you are sure you did, or did you?

That’s how I have been feeling for the last few weeks, like I’m waiting for the penny to drop and social work to bang on my door to tell me I’m a bad mother or I own millions of back taxes but I also know these thoughts are crazy!

Then I had a light bulb moment, a raise your hands to the sky and shout "hallelujah!", by gosh I think I've got it!

The truth is, I am completely bored! This is my mind trying to place this stagnant feeling of dread for the days ahead as I know its just going to be the same old routine over and over, the hamster wheel of mum life. Day in and day out.

Wasn’t it Einstein that said that the definition of insanity was doing the same thing over and over expecting a different result. I think I may have found the reason so many of us parents are plagued with issues. We are driving ourselves insane!!

What was it driving me insane you may ask, well its Instagram!

Im so over it all, I have put so much pressure on myself in the last few months because of this little APP that I am now #insta-burned out! My mind absolutely numbed with boredom about the whole thing.

I still have Instagram, I will still use Instagram, and I think I can even say its still my platform of choice but I find myself becoming so frustrated and uninspired by it all. It just seems a little same same.

The influencer was born via Instagram, before that it was youtube and before that it was the "real" bloggers (you know the ones who actually write) but as its such a mobile and user friendly APP every man, woman and her cat can now become #instafamous and I feel so overwhelmed by the constant stream of the same #ADs, one after another. My brain is exhausted.

Look, don't get me wrong, I still love a lot of the instagram elite ( my current girl crush is @mrsrionaoconnor )and I admire them all for the hard work they have put into those little squares but most of the ones that I love aren't just Instagrammers, they are campaigners, designers, writers, even radio DJs. There life isn't consumed with #insta-life its simply an extension of there passions, its the constant PR begs and woe is me from the ones not getting very far that has made me reach for the unfollow button and refocus. One day Instagram may be gone and then what will they do?

I know I have also made myself sound like I dont like the whole AD thing on instagram but that's not true, girls gotta make that dollar! But when I stroll through my feed all I can see is people "trying" to be influencers. And I'm sure that if I see another photo of someone posing down a fancy cobbled street in some kind of #insta-musthave, I'm going to give my phone away to a hobo!

Oh, goodness this post is starting to sound a little bit harsh isn't it, I really don't mean it too but I also know I am not the only one absolutely feed up with the insta game, remeber when it was just a place where we shared pictures of our food and the cat? The thing is the friends I have made on the APP are also sick of the algorithms, following to just unfollow trick and just some of the cliquey behaviour seen between some instagrammer, And as some one who its trying to improve my mental health, well its twisting my melon, man!

I have stopped following accounts because they always seem to just unfollow me, if you want a follow back, please talk to me and engage so I know your not some paid bot.

Shoutout to all Instagramers who have been victims of follow/unfollow strategy! Raise your hand if you have been irritated by this, lately, so popular method!

The follow/unfollow method is becoming an epidemic on Instagram as users are increasingly doing it. These days, over 50% of the new followers that an account gets will unfollow them automatically a day or a week later. This tactic becomes ineffective and simply a massive annoyance.

Using the follow/unfollow method you can grow your Instagram followers, but you’re definitely not growing your engaged audience. A lot of the followers you’ve gained with this method won’t engage in your content if they were brought here by manipulation. And would you want ghost followers who won’t respond to any of your posts?

It was time to change my view on the APP as it was leaving me so sad and down but I, like most humans, I also couldn't help posting looking for some validation from time to time but I have unfollowed all the accounts I don't love, even the big ones. The ones that were making me question everything about my life and the ones that I was comparing myself too. I cant pretend anymore, some of them are so popular and well loved but they just aren't for me.

I have met some wonderful #instafriend on my blogger journey and instagram has been how I met them and that bit i love but I cant keep focusing on it as much as I have been, its become unhealthy and frustrating. I am putting so much pressure on myself to be like so many of the other accounts I was following I was losing me! So I have pressed unfollow on the accounts that were making me feel this way.

Maybe I should just quit but instagram is my social media crack and until I find the next drug to move on too, I wont be able to stop strolling and strolling and strolling and...