Slowly moving away from the “busy” Instagram
Good morning, this is Asato, a life coach with a journal.
Recently, I noticed I am leaning more toward YouTube videos, which is quite a surprise, because I did not like them at all a year ago.
As I reflected on this trend, I noticed that the speed of content is completely different from other platforms. And I see more value in longer forms of expression these days.
In this article, I am sharing my reflection on fast media and slow media. Which team are you on?
Change of Instagram world
If you know me outside of this Substack platform, I have been in the Instagram space for quite some time. I really enjoyed the space, to see other photos and to post my daily lives there.
However, these days, it is no longer a place to share your daily photos. All of a sudden, there are so many words across the fields, educating us on “how to XX” and “what to do to become XX”.
Where did all the pretty photos go?
As I struggled to navigate those graphic designs, another shift happened. The platform transformed itself to video heavy space.
Where did all the pretty photos of morning coffee, flowers and dogs go?
Now my Instagram feed is filled with too many words, most likely created by ChatGPT (as I see too many graphics saying “how to create 100 posts in 30 sec”.)
Now my Instagram is flashing with short videos, that are maybe no longer filmed by the creators. It’s just a simple combination of “looking nice video” “aesthetically pleasing video clips” available online, just to make your video pretty.
And don’t forget, the video needs to have catchy wordings, within the first 3 seconds to be attractive, followed by multiple 2 second videos to keep the audience engaged. Sigh…
Where did all the messy but real clips of my friends’ life go?
Slowly but surely, the space is moving into a much more busy place, giving us the pressure, which for me feels like another wave of hustle culture. Quick. Attract. Flash. Engage. Catchy. And more and more and more….
Am I the only one who is sad about this change?
Finding peace in YouTube recently
As I got bored with the busy hustle culture wave, in the space where it used to be filled with joys and snippets of daily lives, I noticed I am finally leaning toward YouTube.
For a very long time, until less than a few months ago, I didn't even have a YouTube App on my phone. That’s how much I’ve been avoiding the video formats.
But, as I started exploring what I enjoy, I reached some YouTube videos where ladies from the planner community are sharing their love for their planner.
Some videos are almost 30 minutes long, but when I do like the creator, I fully enjoyed watching the whole video. As I started exploring this video space, I felt so much calm, just watching how others write in their notebook. What a peace.
>>My YouTube life started with bumping into LindseyScribbles
Space where they share their passion
So, what’s so fun about watching others write? You might be thinking. True. But it is super fun for me, and that is the beauty I recognized with YouTube.
Each creator, as far as I see at the moment, are sharing their true passion, only to attract whoever shares the vibe.
Otherwise, who would watch a 20 minute video of someone passionately talking about creating a garden, experimenting with cross-stitching, practicing ukulele or testing new notebooks?
Rather than utilizing “catchy phrases” and “aesthetically pleasing video” to attract a huge number of audiences, I feel like YouTube videos are created only for those who share the same passion.
Rather than trying to attract everyone, I even feel like the video is telling us “if you don’t like the theme, don’t waste your 30 minutes here, and I’m totally fine with that!”.
And this results in each video becoming longer and expressive, and more interesting if the theme fits me.
Calmer and memorable form of contents
On top of it being more interesting to watch, I also noticed longer forms of content stick in my memory.
I think we all remember this feeling of wasted time by scrolling social media. Even if I watch 30 videos on Instagram, which are all 20 seconds-ish length, it is so difficult to remember what I’ve watched the night before.
On the other hand, when I watch one 30 minute video, I learn quite a few things and those tend to stay in my brain. I even picked up my notebooks to jot down some notes!
I feel like I’ve fully entered the era of slower media content, where I can enjoy the peaceful vibe and learn something out of it. Or just to enjoy and feel good about how I've spent my time, when I wake up the next morning.
I don’t think I want to, or moreover I can go back to that busy space again.
Today’s journaling prompt: What kind of contents are you enjoying recently and do they make you feel good?