From fear and overthinking to reels, nostalgia, and enjoying the internet again.
In 2022 I had all but given up on social media. I never posted, rarely saw any of my pals post and was growing tired of constant adverts and targeted content.
It felt like the world was telling me to stay offline.
My profession is fairly regulated and gives out strict guidance on how to use online spaces. It’s no secret that for years prospective employers searched up candidates’ socials to get a sense of who they were. There was always the sense of Big Brother; you are being watched.
Online spaces went through a shift. Goodbye chaotic feeds of MySpace and Tumblr, and hello hyper optimised LinkedIns. I don’t know about you, but I actually hate LinkedIn, probably because it represents such corporate dullification of the internet. Not even my love of Grimes can force me there.
The Internet Got Serious
It also felt like the purpose of posting had changed. We stopped posting for our pals and started posting for an audience. Moments turned into content. A blurry picture from a night out became something you had to curate or not post at all. Even captions started to feel like they had to perform. Everything felt a bit more polished and a lot less human.
I understand the desire to not share life online. There are the sensible things to keep private, those pics of our pals a bit worse for wear at a party shared for likes. Fair dos. And yeah, maybe pictures of people’s coffee weren’t the most interesting… but it had to be better than this slew of advertising and algorithmic meme-ry.
So why in 2026 am I posting reels with my face?
This blog has a lot to answer for. Starting as a hobby project to get me back into writing after having children, I’ve taken pride in managing to string words together. Baby brain is real. I feel like I’ve gained new skills in Canva and WordPress.
In the process of building nostalgic posts I loved going through photos on my socials, seeing myself grow up little bit by bit. None of my content was bad. Posing with friends, out for a meal, outside uni, on a night out. These things were innocent and at times very wholesome. So why had I grown to fear them?
For nostalgia posts with my pictures of yore, could I suggest checking out:
- Why Kesha’s Tik Tok Became a Cultural Phenomenon; 2010 to 2025
- 2011 Club Music Revisited: Rihanna, Calvin Harris, and the Anthem That Stuck
When Posting Stopped Feeling Safe
I think part of it was the quiet pressure that had crept in over time. The sense that if you were going to post, it had to be worth it. Worth the likes, worth the comments, worth people stopping to look. There was also the fear of being judged, or worse, ignored. Being a bit cringe. Being a bit boring. And in a job like mine, there is always that extra voice reminding you to be careful, to be appropriate, to be aware that someone, somewhere, could be watching.
The Pressure to Be Worth Watching
Along the way I had grown to fear not being interesting enough, not getting enough likes or comments. I associated posting online with the big moments in life rather than the everyday little things. Thing is… I missed the little things. I like seeing my pals on a random day out or a picture of their dog at the park.
Trying Again, Quietly
I started to get back into it. A selfie on a sunny day here. A wee picture from a walk there. Was it narssacism? Maybe. Was that in itself a bad thing? I decided not. I wasn’t fishing for hundreds of likes. I was enjoying the process for my own sake.
I decided to ‘play’ at reels. Nothing drastic. Books, married life jokes, toddler stuff. The algorithm rewarded my consistency and with my 10th reel I went from 300 views to 2000 views. 2000 people watching me put Nesquik in a protein shaker.
2000 Views for Nesquik
And it is tempting to read into that. To think it means something. That you have cracked it, or figured something out. But the truth is it felt fairly random. One video lands, another does not. The numbers go up and down and you could easily chase that if you let yourself.
But that was never really the point.
Because, damn, isn’t that the sort of daft thing we need? That was the sort of thing I liked showing my husband and sister, the people I spam with reels anyway, so why not put it out there?
Maybe It Was Never That Deep
I think somewhere along the way I forgot what social media was for. It does not have to be branding or performance or perfectly timed uploads. It can just be small, silly, everyday moments shared for the sake of it.
I do not need to go viral. I just need to enjoy posting again.
Speaking of Instagram, here is my feed in case you fancy following me.
In this post I mention my employment and regulatory body. All opinions held are my own and are in no way linked to my employer.
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