My genuine thanks for endlessly searching for better options.
I loathe Instagram / Meta and unfortunately if the medium is the message then every photographer is a writer on substack and to be blunt this platform is full of great writing (most of which is not by photographers.)
Instagram is too shallow and gamified, substack is too content heavy.
I like the concept of “ArtStack.” Isn’t that what Foto aspires to be? The only plus I’d give for Instagram and the like is that there are so many images - and good ones - that you can’t see it all. Especially in a slower, more thoughtful way. And at the other end you have great newsletters like Blind that feature emerging photographers in a more comprehensive way. I suppose an ArtStack would need both a “more like this” and a “surprise me” function to let you both find artists you like and be exposed to different work.
Plus, META shuts down sites for no reason/no warning. I lost 20 years of photographs and Artwork not to mention my writing, Art, and photography groups. I think personal website blogs may be the way to go. Substack rocks, though. Just discovering it!
I had no idea about Meta shutting down sites? Could you tell me what happened in more detail?
Yes, Substack is great, especially that it can be used on a desktop and full screen. But the reality of sifting through 10s of thousands of blogs posts by photographers is unrealistic. I need to see pictures in some organized way before I care to read writing about them.
You can only take in so much here. There needs to be a way to make updates so that people can actually see progress but in a sustainable way not an Instagram post every day kind of way while also on a higher level somewhat work for the medium as a whole.
I truly don’t know what to do. Social media seems more about building community. Yes that is important, but it doesn’t do much to help connect me with galleries and art lovers or buyers.
I completely agree! I wouldn't say it adds nothing to the experience, but I have been bombarded with noisy music so many times, and it's very unsettling. I do prefer to look at pictures in silence.
I've been blogging for nearly a quarter century. Never had much of an audience. As with capitalism in general, the upside applies largely to a small group of very influential people and the downside is far more widespread. We used to be able to at least communicate with our group of friends, but now that some people want follower counts with M's after them, we can't even have that. And of course "engagement" online is based on negative reactions. If we see something we like or agree with, most of us nod and move on. It's when we see something we disagree with that we are most likely to feel compelled to respond. The corporations have no idea how we feel when we agree with things; they only see responses.
I created a blog site in 1997 to teach myself HTML, Javascript, CSS, PHP, and Photoshop, coding directly in Notepad.
It was a goofy, personal blog about my life as a divorced single mother and Technical Writer in Corporate America. It was when the World Wide Web was becoming popular, but before website templates, laptops, tablets, cell phones, or ubiquitous social media sites, and way before A.I. It didn’t take off for a decade, but when it did, it blew up in the most surprising way!
It became an accidental startup! And it’s an understatement when I say it happened when I needed it most — during the Great Recession of 2008, which was more like a Great Depression in Orlando, with rampant foreclosures and evictions. Families with small children and babies, and professionals with multiple degrees were living in their cars and in tent cities behind the East Orlando Walmart on HWY US 1.
With the continuous layoffs at every job, I felt as if I were jinxing employers, but mostly feared my kids and dogs and I would be joining the hapless , jobless at Walmart.
Then the unthinkable MAGIC happened. I truly believed Heaven heard my prayers.
Unemployed software engineers hired me to write their end-user software manuals and website content for their startups, brick and mortar small business owners contracted me to write newsletters, product descriptions, articles, and employee manuals.
(Scroll down for Part 2 on how my goofy, sometimes venting, personal blog became an accidental startup)
The only SM I actively use is Bluesky and Medium. I loathe all the algorithm driven platforms (including this one to be honest) and the damage they are doing to our minds. For me it’s the process of writing and photographing that keeps me sane in an increasingly insane world. I don’t care about likes, only what interests me.
Gave up on Instagram two months ago, as an alternative, I asked if anyone would be interested in a monthly photoletter/newsletter. Amazingly I had 18 people who did, so I produced one for July in PDF form. I had more interaction with my 18 people, than I ever did on Instagram. I'm now using substack for my August photoletter and I have just loaded my July issue onto substack.
I'm really enjoying building my visual diary each month, they will be great to look back on in years to come.
Hi Andy! I avoid Instagram for similar reasons, I don't want to see ads either. I recommend the fotoapp.co platform. There is no problem with the quality either.
I have been using the foto app as well and I like the way it looks. How do you feel about genuinely connecting with others there? I haven't used it enough to experience that yet. And have you been able to find places there to share your work physically? What do you like about the app?
Andy, I've not read responses nor earlier columns on this. Only responding to email received August 24, 2025, as I take a break working on hundreds of my early punk photos.
I'm not clear if you want to display the photos (yours and others) on galleries or blogs on your site. Cos Blogging with content we want to revisit again and again implies a site. If that's true, have you decided on a platform?
I seriously looked EVERYWHERE. For over 20 years. Thought about Substack but also found Ghost.
My biggest issue with ALL platforms: how they distort, crop, stretch and otherwise RUIN images.
Since Substack and Ghost both treat photos terribly cos programmers think it's fine to crop or stretch photos to fit image areas, I keep coming back to self-hosted WordPress.
I wondered about RSS too (what's old is new again, eh?)
More and more I'm focused on WordPress and what we can do with it. Which is everything. Also makes everything much harder. Which plugins to get and why? And the constant issue of them breaking needing to be updated and the costs. (My main reasons for searching elsewhere.)
But WordPress is not that much more money than many platforms. Esp when selling our images or memberships. No cost beyond usual fees from Stripe, PayPal, etc and initial and renewal of plugins. Themes and builders are free.
We simply cannot layout out sites easily like we can with free Elementor in Wordpress. It's just like traditional graphics layout, easy peasy and powerful.
BUT the BIG question remains: HOW to attract eyeballs?
I follow several Substackers mostly focused on politics. They don't need a site cos we rarely need to go back in history for earlier posts. Which Substack and most EVERY single platform or app out there (talking to you Meta, X/Twitter, etc) seems to think WE DO NOT NEED.
No need for any or effective "Search" features. Or menu items or categories to inform us what a site is about.
YOU love books. I'm near 6 big bookshelves on two walls, forming a L-shape. Plus books on tables. Plus boxes and bookshelves in my bedroom. Most I've read, often repeatedly.
Full of art history and movie history books. We cherish our books. And turn to them for so many reasons. Often and repeatedly.
We usually can easily find them IF we organize them. Which I do, but then I move them around. But still, I usually can readily find the book or info I want.
Cannot say that about social! It's meant to give that dopamine hit, then move onto the next.
A Self-Hosted Site provides everything we as creators and we as art [movie, music, fashion, etc] lovers need.
I believe the reason Substack, Ghost, and others survive is because people don't want nor need the tech complexity of DIY on our own site. They just want to pull some GIFs, maybe post a photo or drawing of theirs or someone else's, and focus on text.
I just found a Substack that reposts political cartoons. AND CUT THE TOPS OFF MOST. And that's cool? Sometimes when I clicked on the image, I couldn't see it cos it was part of a paid account. OR when I could see the image, I could finally GET what it was about.
Cutting the TOP off images ruins it!
TRY telling that to programmers and fanboys on Substack or especially Ghost. That's why I sincerely and ferociously burned my bridges dealing with Ghost. They have no comprehension nor do they want to know the many reasons WHY CROPPING AN IMAGE is a BAD IDEA!
Which brings me to why I never got into Instagram. What would Van Gogh do? Repaint his sunflowers to not be so tall, but wider? I wonder when I see his Irises at the Getty Museum near me, what would social do to them? Turn the landscape orientation into a square?
THAT is why I long ago had to turn to WordPress when it finally GOT IT that you shouldn't program your app to CUT OFF PHOTOS.
FINALLY, did ya read that YOUTUBE IS APPLYING AI TO VIDS and SMOOTHING THEM?
Which is great news for all the films, TV and other clips loaded years ago in low res. Tech and their internal server capacities have improved. So great vids and images can be upscaled and improved!
BUT some artists create images and vids to mimic old film or give it atmosphere. Or shot with film, like I. I don't like grain but I really hate the PLASTIC look AI gives everything. (Which was mentioned in the article I read.) Many are not cool with their carefully crafted vids being "improved" by mindless AI!!
I'm sure many, like I, don't want OUR art to be labeled AI if we work hard to avoid it. (I won't use degenerative art, for example. Adobe can stuff it where the sun don't shine when it comes to that.)
Using AI IN the tools, like color correction or yes, upscaling, can work wonders, esp for scanned film images that were problematic before being scanned.
But forcing AI on OUR ART? OUR PHOTOS? GET OUTTA HERE.
I leave you with a NEW question: YouTube is using AI on our uploads. It's the number one go-to for info, entertainment and more. It's turning into its own studio, its own Netflix meets Hulu, Disney, HBO, ad nauseum ... and crowding out or forcing out creatives who don't wanna play their limiting to us and profitable head trips and forced to use their AI to make "art," "photos" and "video."
We have to figure out how to survive and thrive away from the big corporate sites whether still images or moving images.
And it's lonely and wild out there ... unless you've got a loyal following.
You've worked hard to build up a good readership, so do your own thang!
Last words, I promise: YOU know your audience. Keep doing what YOU feel works for you and the majority of us. Don't worry if some people find fault here or there. No perfect system.
But for a man with the skills, dedication, and artistic talents you have, trust yourself. Do what's right for you. Cos there simply is not simple solution.
Thanks for everything, Andy!
(I look forward to submitting my photos ... someday. Not there yet. And even if I never submit anything, I LOVE what you are doing!! THANK YOU and my best to you and yours!!)
Sorry, re YouTube info: I forgot to mention I've been reading futurism.com for their unique, well-researched AI columns. Realistic pragmatists not fooled by all the empty promises of AI while it ruins our environment and our lives. Just found it recently and it's quite interesting to counter-balance NYTimes, WaPo, HuffPo, New Republic, the Atlantic (which mentions downsides of AI, but minimally.)
Stealing from artists and forcing AI everywhere, especially on OUR ART, is not cool.
AI integrated into Photoshop, Lightroom, Camera Raw, etc can be part of very useful and needed toolkit for creatives.
IF used with integrity and the freedom to choose how much to use, when to use AI, etc. Or to use other tools. And we don't know which tools utilize AI.
But when it comes to (de)Generative Art, no way. Not in my life nor on my art or photos!
Argh! Algorithms! I read your email and then I opened The New Yorker and saw the piece "After The Algorithm" which I haven't finished yet because I wanted to write this, but Algorithm is apparently the word of the day! Or decade. And I feel like most of us know what the word is and what it means, but not completely. It's like when people ask me what my brother does for a living and I know he does something with computers, like programing, but what exactly, I can never remember. Anyway... I feel like the algorithm has never seen my instagram. The closest I've gotten to getting on the algorithm train is when I've shown half naked women, which you have to be very careful about because you could be shut down if you upset someone. Yet, this also seems like these are the images that people respond to. It's so confusing. But honestly, naked women get boring! I have so many mixed feeling about Instagram. It is a great way to get your art out there for people to see, (are the right people seeing it? Is it better than no one seeing it?) but it is also a bit of a drug that can really mess with you. When I put out an image I am constantly checking in to see who has liked it and how many. It gives me a little boost sometimes. But then there is the coming down from the high when the likes stop coming in and I don't have anything new to post for a while, I can go through withdrawal. Then I start the doom scrolling and honestly I get bored! Instagram has gotten boring! But I still go back to it everyday. Sometimes it's the first thing I look at when I wake up. I'm trying not to do this, but I am addicted! So, what will be the new thing? Do we even know how to have conversations with real in person people anymore without having our phones nearby to suckle on? I want to be doing more actual physical in person stuff, but I feel like I'm drowning in the social media hole along with everyone else. I don't normally comment on anything so hopefully this wasn't too much of a rant. I am just getting over a bout of Covid which has caused me to feel even more isolated and sucked into the grams. Thank you!
Blogging can be a good alternative to social media apps. Social media and its algorithms won’t change unless enough people stop using “features” like reels, or stop using the apps altogether. The idea that these features are necessary is the real problem; they aren’t.
I use Instagram but stopped watching reels or any kind of short video feed.
That’s a start. I’m looking forward to seeing the weekly featured photo and photographer.
I think embracing blogging/web 1.0 is the way to go. There seems to be a real appetite for it.
My genuine thanks for endlessly searching for better options.
I loathe Instagram / Meta and unfortunately if the medium is the message then every photographer is a writer on substack and to be blunt this platform is full of great writing (most of which is not by photographers.)
Instagram is too shallow and gamified, substack is too content heavy.
Where is ArtStack!
I like the concept of “ArtStack.” Isn’t that what Foto aspires to be? The only plus I’d give for Instagram and the like is that there are so many images - and good ones - that you can’t see it all. Especially in a slower, more thoughtful way. And at the other end you have great newsletters like Blind that feature emerging photographers in a more comprehensive way. I suppose an ArtStack would need both a “more like this” and a “surprise me” function to let you both find artists you like and be exposed to different work.
Plus, META shuts down sites for no reason/no warning. I lost 20 years of photographs and Artwork not to mention my writing, Art, and photography groups. I think personal website blogs may be the way to go. Substack rocks, though. Just discovering it!
I had no idea about Meta shutting down sites? Could you tell me what happened in more detail?
Yes, Substack is great, especially that it can be used on a desktop and full screen. But the reality of sifting through 10s of thousands of blogs posts by photographers is unrealistic. I need to see pictures in some organized way before I care to read writing about them.
You can only take in so much here. There needs to be a way to make updates so that people can actually see progress but in a sustainable way not an Instagram post every day kind of way while also on a higher level somewhat work for the medium as a whole.
I truly don’t know what to do. Social media seems more about building community. Yes that is important, but it doesn’t do much to help connect me with galleries and art lovers or buyers.
I’m on IG for still photos, mostly B&W. The trend that annoys me is adding music to a posted photo. Distracting, it adds nothing to the experience.
I completely agree! I wouldn't say it adds nothing to the experience, but I have been bombarded with noisy music so many times, and it's very unsettling. I do prefer to look at pictures in silence.
Interesting. Good to know. I like the option to click to turn the music on but to have OFF be the default.
Emails that introduce new artists would always be welcome.
I've been blogging for nearly a quarter century. Never had much of an audience. As with capitalism in general, the upside applies largely to a small group of very influential people and the downside is far more widespread. We used to be able to at least communicate with our group of friends, but now that some people want follower counts with M's after them, we can't even have that. And of course "engagement" online is based on negative reactions. If we see something we like or agree with, most of us nod and move on. It's when we see something we disagree with that we are most likely to feel compelled to respond. The corporations have no idea how we feel when we agree with things; they only see responses.
1.) Part I (Please scroll down to see Part 2.)
I created a blog site in 1997 to teach myself HTML, Javascript, CSS, PHP, and Photoshop, coding directly in Notepad.
It was a goofy, personal blog about my life as a divorced single mother and Technical Writer in Corporate America. It was when the World Wide Web was becoming popular, but before website templates, laptops, tablets, cell phones, or ubiquitous social media sites, and way before A.I. It didn’t take off for a decade, but when it did, it blew up in the most surprising way!
It became an accidental startup! And it’s an understatement when I say it happened when I needed it most — during the Great Recession of 2008, which was more like a Great Depression in Orlando, with rampant foreclosures and evictions. Families with small children and babies, and professionals with multiple degrees were living in their cars and in tent cities behind the East Orlando Walmart on HWY US 1.
With the continuous layoffs at every job, I felt as if I were jinxing employers, but mostly feared my kids and dogs and I would be joining the hapless , jobless at Walmart.
Then the unthinkable MAGIC happened. I truly believed Heaven heard my prayers.
Unemployed software engineers hired me to write their end-user software manuals and website content for their startups, brick and mortar small business owners contracted me to write newsletters, product descriptions, articles, and employee manuals.
(Scroll down for Part 2 on how my goofy, sometimes venting, personal blog became an accidental startup)
As far as Instagram, putting my serious work up there is akin to trying to sell it at the state fair. A newsletter shuts the noise off.
That would be awesome and welcome.
I wrote this coming up to a year ago. https://softwarearchitecturezen.blog/2024/10/15/why-the-blogosphere-still-matters/ I have two blogs, the one this article is on and my photography one.
The only SM I actively use is Bluesky and Medium. I loathe all the algorithm driven platforms (including this one to be honest) and the damage they are doing to our minds. For me it’s the process of writing and photographing that keeps me sane in an increasingly insane world. I don’t care about likes, only what interests me.
Keep up the good work Andy.
Cheers, Peter.🙏📸
Gave up on Instagram two months ago, as an alternative, I asked if anyone would be interested in a monthly photoletter/newsletter. Amazingly I had 18 people who did, so I produced one for July in PDF form. I had more interaction with my 18 people, than I ever did on Instagram. I'm now using substack for my August photoletter and I have just loaded my July issue onto substack.
I'm really enjoying building my visual diary each month, they will be great to look back on in years to come.
Hi Andy! I avoid Instagram for similar reasons, I don't want to see ads either. I recommend the fotoapp.co platform. There is no problem with the quality either.
Hi
I have been using the foto app as well and I like the way it looks. How do you feel about genuinely connecting with others there? I haven't used it enough to experience that yet. And have you been able to find places there to share your work physically? What do you like about the app?
thank you,
Tiffany
Andy, I've not read responses nor earlier columns on this. Only responding to email received August 24, 2025, as I take a break working on hundreds of my early punk photos.
I'm not clear if you want to display the photos (yours and others) on galleries or blogs on your site. Cos Blogging with content we want to revisit again and again implies a site. If that's true, have you decided on a platform?
I seriously looked EVERYWHERE. For over 20 years. Thought about Substack but also found Ghost.
My biggest issue with ALL platforms: how they distort, crop, stretch and otherwise RUIN images.
Since Substack and Ghost both treat photos terribly cos programmers think it's fine to crop or stretch photos to fit image areas, I keep coming back to self-hosted WordPress.
I wondered about RSS too (what's old is new again, eh?)
More and more I'm focused on WordPress and what we can do with it. Which is everything. Also makes everything much harder. Which plugins to get and why? And the constant issue of them breaking needing to be updated and the costs. (My main reasons for searching elsewhere.)
But WordPress is not that much more money than many platforms. Esp when selling our images or memberships. No cost beyond usual fees from Stripe, PayPal, etc and initial and renewal of plugins. Themes and builders are free.
We simply cannot layout out sites easily like we can with free Elementor in Wordpress. It's just like traditional graphics layout, easy peasy and powerful.
BUT the BIG question remains: HOW to attract eyeballs?
I follow several Substackers mostly focused on politics. They don't need a site cos we rarely need to go back in history for earlier posts. Which Substack and most EVERY single platform or app out there (talking to you Meta, X/Twitter, etc) seems to think WE DO NOT NEED.
No need for any or effective "Search" features. Or menu items or categories to inform us what a site is about.
YOU love books. I'm near 6 big bookshelves on two walls, forming a L-shape. Plus books on tables. Plus boxes and bookshelves in my bedroom. Most I've read, often repeatedly.
Full of art history and movie history books. We cherish our books. And turn to them for so many reasons. Often and repeatedly.
We usually can easily find them IF we organize them. Which I do, but then I move them around. But still, I usually can readily find the book or info I want.
Cannot say that about social! It's meant to give that dopamine hit, then move onto the next.
A Self-Hosted Site provides everything we as creators and we as art [movie, music, fashion, etc] lovers need.
I believe the reason Substack, Ghost, and others survive is because people don't want nor need the tech complexity of DIY on our own site. They just want to pull some GIFs, maybe post a photo or drawing of theirs or someone else's, and focus on text.
I just found a Substack that reposts political cartoons. AND CUT THE TOPS OFF MOST. And that's cool? Sometimes when I clicked on the image, I couldn't see it cos it was part of a paid account. OR when I could see the image, I could finally GET what it was about.
Cutting the TOP off images ruins it!
TRY telling that to programmers and fanboys on Substack or especially Ghost. That's why I sincerely and ferociously burned my bridges dealing with Ghost. They have no comprehension nor do they want to know the many reasons WHY CROPPING AN IMAGE is a BAD IDEA!
Which brings me to why I never got into Instagram. What would Van Gogh do? Repaint his sunflowers to not be so tall, but wider? I wonder when I see his Irises at the Getty Museum near me, what would social do to them? Turn the landscape orientation into a square?
THAT is why I long ago had to turn to WordPress when it finally GOT IT that you shouldn't program your app to CUT OFF PHOTOS.
FINALLY, did ya read that YOUTUBE IS APPLYING AI TO VIDS and SMOOTHING THEM?
Which is great news for all the films, TV and other clips loaded years ago in low res. Tech and their internal server capacities have improved. So great vids and images can be upscaled and improved!
BUT some artists create images and vids to mimic old film or give it atmosphere. Or shot with film, like I. I don't like grain but I really hate the PLASTIC look AI gives everything. (Which was mentioned in the article I read.) Many are not cool with their carefully crafted vids being "improved" by mindless AI!!
I'm sure many, like I, don't want OUR art to be labeled AI if we work hard to avoid it. (I won't use degenerative art, for example. Adobe can stuff it where the sun don't shine when it comes to that.)
Using AI IN the tools, like color correction or yes, upscaling, can work wonders, esp for scanned film images that were problematic before being scanned.
But forcing AI on OUR ART? OUR PHOTOS? GET OUTTA HERE.
I leave you with a NEW question: YouTube is using AI on our uploads. It's the number one go-to for info, entertainment and more. It's turning into its own studio, its own Netflix meets Hulu, Disney, HBO, ad nauseum ... and crowding out or forcing out creatives who don't wanna play their limiting to us and profitable head trips and forced to use their AI to make "art," "photos" and "video."
We have to figure out how to survive and thrive away from the big corporate sites whether still images or moving images.
And it's lonely and wild out there ... unless you've got a loyal following.
You've worked hard to build up a good readership, so do your own thang!
Last words, I promise: YOU know your audience. Keep doing what YOU feel works for you and the majority of us. Don't worry if some people find fault here or there. No perfect system.
But for a man with the skills, dedication, and artistic talents you have, trust yourself. Do what's right for you. Cos there simply is not simple solution.
Thanks for everything, Andy!
(I look forward to submitting my photos ... someday. Not there yet. And even if I never submit anything, I LOVE what you are doing!! THANK YOU and my best to you and yours!!)
Sorry, re YouTube info: I forgot to mention I've been reading futurism.com for their unique, well-researched AI columns. Realistic pragmatists not fooled by all the empty promises of AI while it ruins our environment and our lives. Just found it recently and it's quite interesting to counter-balance NYTimes, WaPo, HuffPo, New Republic, the Atlantic (which mentions downsides of AI, but minimally.)
Stealing from artists and forcing AI everywhere, especially on OUR ART, is not cool.
AI integrated into Photoshop, Lightroom, Camera Raw, etc can be part of very useful and needed toolkit for creatives.
IF used with integrity and the freedom to choose how much to use, when to use AI, etc. Or to use other tools. And we don't know which tools utilize AI.
But when it comes to (de)Generative Art, no way. Not in my life nor on my art or photos!
Great idea, excited to discover the photographers you’ll be showcasing! :)
2.) Anyway, to make a long story short, don’t give up on blogging. Magic can happen when you need it the most.
I still get contracting and consulting jobs from that blog, even with my silly comic strip about the layoffs, so I never took it down.
I get writing jobs, graphic design jobs, and even gigs photographing weddings (!?) I know! It makes no sense.
You just never know what can happen! Think positive, never lose your sense of hope and your sense of humor, and never stop praying!
https://www.writewaydesigns.com
Argh! Algorithms! I read your email and then I opened The New Yorker and saw the piece "After The Algorithm" which I haven't finished yet because I wanted to write this, but Algorithm is apparently the word of the day! Or decade. And I feel like most of us know what the word is and what it means, but not completely. It's like when people ask me what my brother does for a living and I know he does something with computers, like programing, but what exactly, I can never remember. Anyway... I feel like the algorithm has never seen my instagram. The closest I've gotten to getting on the algorithm train is when I've shown half naked women, which you have to be very careful about because you could be shut down if you upset someone. Yet, this also seems like these are the images that people respond to. It's so confusing. But honestly, naked women get boring! I have so many mixed feeling about Instagram. It is a great way to get your art out there for people to see, (are the right people seeing it? Is it better than no one seeing it?) but it is also a bit of a drug that can really mess with you. When I put out an image I am constantly checking in to see who has liked it and how many. It gives me a little boost sometimes. But then there is the coming down from the high when the likes stop coming in and I don't have anything new to post for a while, I can go through withdrawal. Then I start the doom scrolling and honestly I get bored! Instagram has gotten boring! But I still go back to it everyday. Sometimes it's the first thing I look at when I wake up. I'm trying not to do this, but I am addicted! So, what will be the new thing? Do we even know how to have conversations with real in person people anymore without having our phones nearby to suckle on? I want to be doing more actual physical in person stuff, but I feel like I'm drowning in the social media hole along with everyone else. I don't normally comment on anything so hopefully this wasn't too much of a rant. I am just getting over a bout of Covid which has caused me to feel even more isolated and sucked into the grams. Thank you!
Blogging can be a good alternative to social media apps. Social media and its algorithms won’t change unless enough people stop using “features” like reels, or stop using the apps altogether. The idea that these features are necessary is the real problem; they aren’t.
I use Instagram but stopped watching reels or any kind of short video feed.
That’s a start. I’m looking forward to seeing the weekly featured photo and photographer.