Instagramlove #01
Instagram – a love and hate relationship. On the one hand, it is a fantastic source of inspiration. It enables us to explore and discover people, brands, and concepts we wouldn't necessarily find elsewhere. It allows us to share whatever we find inspiring, attract an audience, create a community, and share bits and pieces of our lives with others.
On the other hand, it can be extremely time-consuming, addicting and have some rather unfortunate side effects such as; leaving people feeling insufficient, pressured to live a "picture perfect" life, not to mention the adverse effects on mental health.
And then there is the monitoring, the algorithms, and the non-linear timeline, which freaks us out when thinking too much about it. In general, we dislike the fact that social media platforms try to control our feed, figure out how we feel, what we would like to see, decide what we should be reading, have a say in what we are exposed to and when – It's SCARY. We would opt out of all the above and choose to have the chronological, non-monitored, non-filtered timeline back any day.
Nevertheless, we choose to focus on the positive aspects. For us, the key is — like with most other things in life — BALANCE. It goes without saying that it is inappropriate for us to spend a ridiculous amount of time with our heads buried in our phones. Looking at shit that makes us feel bad, spending way too much energy overthinking what we share and when to post. However, we believe that Instagram is fantastic when used in a healthy way.
In our experience, creating a healthy relationship with the platform is all about who we follow and how they make us feel. Just like in real life, we don't have to agree on everything, but we need to treat each other with kindness and respect. Naturally, we are closer to some people, attracted by certain concepts, brands, and types of businesses in periods of our lives for whatever reason, and that's okay.
Our simple advice is to take active control of your social media platforms and the time you spend on them. Make conscious decisions about who you follow. You don't have to follow anyone just because they follow you. You are free to follow, unfollow, mute, block, delete, and report whomever you want to at any giving time, if for some reason, whatever they post doesn't do anything good for you. Stay true to yourself, your feed is a representation of who you are and what you believe in. Do what fits you. Be responsible and mindful. The moment you have a following of even one real person, you have a responsibility. What you share may influence your audience. Make sure that whatever you do, makes you happy. Don't be a jerk and don't take it too seriously. Have fun! And finally ...
Don't forget to unfollow accounts
that make you feel like shit!
We love to follow accounts that leave us feeling inspired, motivated, and curious. #instagramlove is a series of posts where we share some of the accounts we enjoy following.
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The Classy Issue (theclassyissue.com) is a blog curated by Niclas von Schedvin. You've probably seen the branded logo shirts somewhere in cyberspace or on the streets. Eye-catching! When almost 500.000 people follow you for your taste in images – it's fair to say you must be on to something.
Joel Runyon is an American athlete and entrepreneur. He is the founder of IMPOSSIBLE – a company dedicated to helping people push their limits and do the impossible. In 2017 Joel became the youngest in the World to join the 7 Continents Ultra Club, having run an ultra on all 7 continents (yes, including Antarctica). Along the way, he raised money to built 7 schools for charity. Pretty badass!
We met Roman Darkholme in a dive bar in Lower East Side, NY, last year. We were immediately drawn to his personality and way of just being himself 100%. We absolutely love his videos and Instagram stories! He is ridiculously funny, loves beautiful men, and never seems to have a bad hair day. He is a talented filmmaker, a musician, and a gay with a phone (His words, not ours).
You should follow @the_yoni_empire if you are into conversations about sexuality and pleasure, combined with beautiful aesthetics. Elena Rossi teaches people to make love, works as an orgasm coach, and is the creator and product designer behind @onna_lifestyle. Yes, it’s toys for grown-ups.
David Shrigley is a British visual artist who's art can brighten up the darkest day. It's unpretentious and funny, and he is not afraid of portraying the SHIT we all think about from time to time!