Caption This: Instagram Anxiety
By: Ciera Barnes
After avoiding Instagram for so long, my curiosity got the best of me. I finally decided to join. At the ripe old age of twenty-eight. I soon found myself mindlessly scrolling through my feed. Comparing myself to others who have way more followers. I tried editing my photos to look perfect or aesthetically pleasing. This led to me giving up and posting my photo in black and white. Mostly I just scroll through people’s feeds. The constant scrolling did nothing to calm my anxious mind. Before I post a photo, I go through a checklist. Am I trying too hard? Will anyone like this? Is this cool? My palms start to sweat. My heartbeat is racing. One thing about anxiety is it gives birth to irrational feelings and thoughts. One of my biggest fears is going viral for the wrong reasons. What if someone misinterprets my post? What if they share it with their friends and followers because they find it funny? This is ridiculous because I only have seventeen followers. It's not like I am aiming to be an influencer or any time of entertainer. This limits what I post or don't post. I post with no captions, and I only have one photo of myself. The rest of my photos are of flowers and the sky. My Instagram is very tame and kind of boring. It's not too flashy or overwhelming, while also being not too memorable or distinct in any fashion. Sometimes I forget that I joined Instagram to network, to share articles that I write for this website. I want to connect with other creators. My fear of judgment holds me back from expressing myself. Hopefully, soon I can express myself without the looming threat of Instagram anxiety.
