Instagram has become an endless carousel of carbon copies. Everyday I scroll past a hundred versions of the same outfit, interior, quote, or graphic. Ultimately, it is up to each person who they to decide to follow, but even the variety of creators who inspire me have all started to bleed together in one way or another– which leaves me wondering… Since when did content creation become just artful uniformity?
When Instagram launched in 2010, the gates of accessibility to both find and create new content opened wide. Everyone who had a phone with a camera (so, basically everyone) was now provided a globally connected platform to create, edit, and share visual content.
Fast forward 11 years, and Instagram is the main distribution center of art and the entire digital landscape revolves around it. Taking a photo “for the ‘gram” is now a well-integrated motive when picking up our phone or camera. Because, pics or it didn’t happen right?
I believe the core root of sameness fatigue is that we’ve mistaken inspiration for re-creation. The first definition of inspiration according to the New Oxford American Dictionary is, “the process of being mentally stimulated to do or feel something, especially to do something creative.”
We are meant to treat an idea as a launch pad rather than a target. When we see another person’s outfit or room décor that we like, our first emotional response is desire. Rather, the ultimate goal as a content consumer should be to walk away feeling refreshed, inspired, and motivated to express ourselves in a new way. For example, dressing on-trend vs. dressing trendy (I’ll go more in-depth on this in a future newsletter).
Algorithms work so hard to discover what our current interests are that they have stunted our ability to expand beyond whatever niche we identify with the most. By trying to predict our future interests based solely on previous interactions, the Explore Page on Instagram becomes a regurgitation of things we have already seen or by creators we have already found or follow– which only sinks us deeper into the black hole of sameness.
Although, we must strike a balance. I am thankful that algorithms filter out content surrounding topics that I despise and would never interest me (you all can keep your pimple popping videos), but I am left longing for new and unique content that I haven’t yet discovered for myself.
Spotify has the best set of “Made for You” algorithms in my opinion. From the 6 Daily Mixes focusing on your most-played genres each day, the Discover Weekly curation of your overall preferences featuring new styles/artists, to the unique Tastebreaker playlist that is filled with songs you don’t typically listen to or search for, just in case you feel like branching out. I never knew Intelligent Dance Music, Deep Gothic Post-Punk, or Electroacoustic Improvisation were music genres, but I do now, thanks to Spotify.
If Instagram’s Explore Page algorithm functioned in a similar way to Spotify’s, the melting pot of creativity would be given a much-needed stir. Instead of the topics being sorted into categories (décor, sports, art, DIY, etc.), they could be grouped by mood/artistic medium/aesthetic to help each user discover content outside of their 5-foot circle.
Until then, we can keep doing our part to cut through the noise and create content that’s inspired, not tired.
Art by Liana Finck.