Instagram Is Over
theatlantic.com
theatlantic.com
> ...watching the app contort itself into a TikTok copycat that prioritized video and recommended posts over photos from friends...
That seems to describe, like, the entire web in the 2020s. I feel like I'm going to be sick just thinking about it.
I used to yearn for the "old web" with pages of thoughtful text and a few of the most interesting and relevant photos (I mean, I still do, but I realize that it's largely not coming back). I never thought I'd be yearning for the "old web" of 2010s social networking sites with nothing but photos and captions full of emojis instead of proper punctuation, but here I am.
I can't get over how everyone just seems to be watching TV on their "phones" now. Everywhere I go near other humans, I'm listening to half a dozen different videos playing out loud on different phones near me. My Boomer parents and even my own Millenial wife probably watch several hours of suggested Reels or Stories or Shorts or whatever they're called every day. I'm only 37, but I'm feeling like a dinosaur here. How does this end?
I both see this in others and am victim to it my myself. It's just about perfect as a distraction: short, succinct, varied. I think it'll get worse before it gets better.