for a while, I thought that to be anyone of substance, value, recognition, etc. you had to have a distinct personal brand. What a load of hooey. It definitely had a lot to do with Instagram, and like admiring people for having that persona that people know who you are without actually having to know you. itās really depressing and sincerely unattainable for me. I now am very happy being off Instagram and doing whatever, without wondering how it looks.
Mar 7, 2024
Related Recs
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Iāve been thinking about how much of social media is centered around curating our self-image. When selfies first became popular, they were dismissed as vain and vapidāa critique often rooted in misogynyābut now, the way we craft our online selves feels more like creating monuments.
We try to signal our individuality, hoping to be seen and understood, but ironically, I think this widens the gap between how others perceive us and who we really are. Instead of fostering connection, it can invite projection and misinterpretationāpreconceived notions, prefab labels, and stereotypes. Worse, individuality has become branded and commodified, reducing our identities to products for others to consume.
On most platforms, validation often comes from how well you can curate and present your imageāselfies, aesthetic branding, and lifestyle content tend to dominate. High engagement is tied to visibility, not necessarily depth or substance. But I think spaces like PI.FYI show that thereās another way: where connection is built on shared ideas, tastes, and interests rather than surface-level content. Itās refreshing to be part of a community that values thoughts over optics.
By sharing so few images of myself, Iāve found that it gives others room to focus on my ideas and voice. When I do share an image, it feels intentionalāsomething that contributes to the story I want to tell rather than defining it. Sharing less allows me to express who I am beyond appearance.
For women, especially, sharing less can be a radical act in a world where the default is to objectify ourselves. It resists the pressure to center appearance, focusing instead on what truly matters: our thoughts, voices, and authenticity. Iāve posted a handful of pictures of myself in 2,500 posts because I care more about showing who I am than how I look.
In trying to be seen, are we making it harder for others to truly know us? Itās a question worth considering.
Dec 27, 2024
āCOMPARISON IS THE THIEF OF JOYā
āDISCARD ANYTHING THAT DOESNāT SPARK JOY.ā
You donāt need to have these people in your life. Unless they make you laugh or give you wisdom, their content has no value to you. I followed so many people because of their expensive interesting clothing, aesthetic pictures of places Iām not going to go to, and features of their appearance that I donāt have. If not for social media, their life would not be connected to mine at all! Your life is fine, as is theirs, social media isnāt real. I havenāt unfollowed all of them yetā¦maybe some day. Clicking that unfollow button feels pretty freeing. Iām going to be a careful mindful brainy netizen in this life.
So goodbye niche internet micro-celebrities, parting is such sweet sorrow.
Mar 3, 2024
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I need a place to archive my thoughts in a dated manner, but also not on instagram. I used to post things pretty frequently on my stories and then have a 'highlights' of the year that I could go back to look at, but now, I am not so comfortable sharing on such a commercial soul sucking platform that is data mining and surveilling and selling. I also feel like I am not, in my core, a good person. There are very few people who, when I see their success and happiness, spark genuine joy for me. For the most, I have to take a deep breath and remind myself that their life does not affect mine and that I should not let the display of their wealth of happiness, opportunity and beauty spoil the pursuit of my own. Some days, I feel so engrossed in knowing and wanting to know the updates of all the people around me. Now, I just want to shrink and disappear, I do not want people to know what I am up to and I do not want to peripherally watch others either. I want to focus on myself. I feel like I need to cut the plug on instagram with a hard delete. Maybe I will just buy myself a photo printer and print out the 'instagram' shots with their memories and make my own photobook instead. But I need to find a new way to document and archive my life.
Feb 8, 2025
Top Recs from @bbqt
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Iām a project manager for a prepared food company, and the majority of the projects I work on are soup. Weāre mostly private label, so we make the store brand soups in the deli section for most of the big grocery stores.
One time at a big meeting our boss got a cameo from the āno soup for you!ā Guy from Seinfeld to pump us up (?)
Feb 7, 2024
These puzzles are wild! All the pieces are different shapes, and even at the end it was so hard! Totally twisted my brain, please let me know if other puzzle companies do this Iām hooked!
Mar 1, 2024
Greater than the sum of its parts- I still never get how AR packs so much into her recipes while only a few ingredients and easy to make.
Feb 15, 2024