My Social Media Dilemma

Why I broke up with Instagram 💔

Ok, so this is the thing. I am very upset at Instagram.

Our relationship was going well at the beginning until some difficulties led us to a break up. A few years ago I found a channel where I could share my creative journey talking and sharing it all behind the screen, a channel that would allow me to connect to others visually and create a conversation. It was a real match. Love at first sight.

But then, the first complications appeared when we started developing in different directions.

When my art started becoming popular because of my boobs portraits, Instagram shadow-banned my account, in other words, they made it very ver very hard for people, aka new followers, to find me.

At the moment I was seeing friends accounts rise, mine stayed stuck. This was the first move that made me suspicious of Instagram. Why would you do that to me?

Since I usually do not take a no for an answer I decided to rely on traditional press to get my work out there and so in 2024 I got on this three publications: Die Zeit, Monopol Magaine and Harpers Bazaar.

This was fantastic. What a wonderful achievement for my career.

Instagram 1 - Sabela 1

I started to care less and less about Instagram when I realised how personal I would start taking the number of likes or reactions in my posts or stories. At the same time, it opened many doors, like for example, when I painted a commissioned piece for the content creator Lea in Berlin. So here the game was on again. One of lime, one of sand.

This had turned into a hate-love story with complicated attachment issues.

When I felt Instagram was challenging me with the entire game of becoming a content creator and was putting conditions to our relationship I had to stop it.

I jumped of the game with a white flag and asked for a break.

It is against my wish to start producing reels and cut cool videos to keep my audience entertained. By the way, I do not know when they became “audience”. They used to be friends, followers, clients and a mix of all. You see where I am going.

I do not want to follow trends. And most importantly, I want to keep true to myself. I want to dedicate time to my art, to my thoughts, to ways to solve problems creatively.

My wish is to dedicate more time in the future to create more pieces in long content format, artist collaborations and publications, videos, IRL community events. It is my wish to slow down and help other to slow down too.

I am seeking for a place where I can be seen and not judged. I am longing for a space in where only the ones who want to take time and exchange deeply can find me. I have not a final answer, I have no solution for this crisis.

For now, I would like to know if you are also feeling something similar in relation to social media and if you are interested in more long format and in real life gatherings and exchanges.

Personally, I am excited to see how my Instagram avatar will navigate the waters after the break up.