curating the decline

what’s less curated than a single post on instagram? a carousel post of course. mind you, now you have multiple photos to curate… wait i mean pick… to pick in a way that seems like you didn’t curate them at all. these were just “tossed together” by chance!

okay great, so now the photos have been chosen… what’s next? the caption of course. which song lyric perfectly encapsulates how carefree this selection was? hard to decide. maybe it’s a quote that references that it is curated. a cool way to let everyone know you’re in on the joke ;). (an excellent self-preservation strategy). maybe it’s an itemized list explaining each frame, a mini anecdote to offer BTS context on each moment. a great option to add some extra fomo to the post, if that’s your thing.

so you’ve got your pics, you’ve got your caption, it’s 2 hours later, you’re tired, but you can finally post your authentic non-curated instagram moment to your followers. oh wait, you forgot about The Algorithm. he doesn’t care about any of this, he rewards race-to-the-bottom rage-bait content, edgy memes, or posts explaining how to game The Algorithm. he also won’t show it to anyone following you.

welcome to the new internet, the bait and switch has finally happened. the promise of a utopian social internet where you can catch up with your friends in real-time has been replaced by a new internet. one full of robots, The Algorithm, ads, infinite loops, and career-hostages that are required to frequently post and keep the whole façade functioning.

we’re all still online, but it’s no wonder that everyone i ask doesn’t really post anymore.

why would you?

-felix

[thanks to Kyle Chayka’s column for the inspo]