Why I Ditched Instagram (and Why Google Might Be Next)
Three and a half years. That’s how long it’s been since I last opened Instagram . Friends still ask why I ghosted the app, especially since my blog is full of photos of landscapes, animals, and the occasional latte. It wasn’t a dramatic breakup at first; I just felt drained. Every time I tried to browse nature shots, the algorithm shoved cringe Reels and brain‑rot content into my eyeballs. Eventually I realised the platform itself was rewiring my brain. Here’s what convinced me to step back and why I’m writing about it now. The dopamine trap: infinite scrolling and algorithmic nudging When Instagram launched, it was mostly about sharing snapshots. Over the last decade, it morphed into a machine that thrives on micro‑engagement. Research on the design of social media shows that features like infinite scrolling deliberately tap into psychological vulnerabilities. One paper describes how endless feeds exploit the Zeigarnik effect (we remember incomplete tasks better than comp...