I’ve had Instagram since I was in the 5th grade. I originally created my Instagram account to share my excitement for Super Smash Bros. for 3DS and Wii U, specifically for the character PAC-Man. While originally I only had my Instagram for this specific purpose, I slowly branched out to use it like most other’s do – as a social photo diary of my life. With everything I posted, it is incredibly easy to document how I grew and changed as an individual, from when I was 11 to now, a near 23 year old. From my first middle school dance to marching band banquets to my graduation to coming out as trans. Most of my conversations, pictures taken, thoughts shared, and time spent are documented on one app, regardless of the fact that said app has gotten progressively worse over time.

More and more features have become hidden and obscured. Every new social media app has become a side feature within Instagram. Snapchat is gaining traction? Roll out stories, effectively killing Snapchat. TikTok is getting attention? Launch Reels, a TikTok alternative. Twitter has died? Launch Threads (something I at one point quickly adopted and was a micro celebrity on) so that we can capitalize on that market. All while the aesthetic of the app has become more and more basic and “minimalistic”, along with the actual posting process becoming more and more difficult.

Constantly documenting my life for “myself” has become tiring. While I barely have 300 followers, I constantly wonder what my responsibility is to these 300 followers. Someone once told me I was their primary source of news and how they formed their political opinion. I have been told by others that I am the only trans or queer person that they knows of. I’ve been told I’m someone to be “looked up too”. I constantly think about these things every time I post, wondering if I have a responsibility to uphold, despite logically knowing that this is both a small minority of “my followers” and that that is not my job. This has all been outside of the extremely rapid shift into fascism that the United States and Meta as a company have shifted into.

4 years ago, Meta was apart of a collection of social media platforms that banned Trump. Now, every tech and social media company seems to have Trump’s tongue so far up their ass that they’re being ratatouilled into neonazzi fascism. Is this a gross (literally and metaphorically) over simplification of modern events? Most definitely, and something I would absolutely like to talk about in another blog post.

Other tech companies, primarily Twitter (X if you’re a loser) have already gone down this route. After cutting 80% of the staff, the site lost a large majority of it’s users, it’s ad revenue, and it’s basic functionality. Social media websites rely on user’s to interact with the website to generate data, so that they can then sell that information to advertisers to promote targeted ads. Zuckerburg admitted as much during his 2020 court hearing (remember that?), but advertisers aren’t the only people that social media websites share your data too. The US government alone made 300k data requests from Meta in 2024, their highest volume of requests so far. I firmly believe that as Trump takes office again, not only will this number increase but the way in which this data is used will be much more invasive and predatory.

Therefore, based on a combination of the app progressively getting worse over time, my own anxiety around posting and keeping up some form of an image, and the extreme alt-right pipeline this app is heading towards, I quit. I refuse to be here any longer. With the knowledge that my attention and data is my currency, I am choosing to take my business elsewhere, and I highly encourage you to do the same. The only effective way to deal with nazi’s online is to not engage. They want your attention and negative energy as they know they cannot get away with saying these things out loud in the real world.

This doesn’t mean I’m leaving the internet forever. I’m a child of the internet, I don’t think I could quit if I wanted. However, I’m deciding to only use social medias that have a decentralized focus. For now, I will only be posting on Bluesky and here. On Bluesky, you can get all of my game development updates, while on here you can get my more personal thoughts and opinions on the world in a much more in-depth and fleshed out form. While this site has it’s own problems, I can choose to either A) self host this blog on my own server or B) leave and take my set up to NeoCities, a retro web that is entirely open source. I’m also currently looking into Pixelfed, a decentralized alternative to Instagram, as I do enjoy the photo-diary aspect of Instagram. However, I think I want to enjoy some time away from having Instagram or anything Instagram like in my life.

I have heard from so many people that they feel trapped to social media. I feel trapped to social media. But this cage is one of my own creation, and I am choosing to leave, and take my energy, time, and creativity elsewhere. I hope to see some of you there with me.