Rediscovering Creativity: Living Beyond the Instagram Grid

One major step I have taken this year was deleting my Instagram profile. It was not a decision I made overnight. It was something that I had been thinking about for a while. I should also note that this is not the first time I have left social media. Not all social, though; I still look at YouTube and Pinterest almost daily 🙂 but I do not have the same pressure with those platforms.

My History of Social Media

Full disclosure: I have never been a huge fan of social media. This will age me, but even back in the days of MySpace, I found more drama than fun.

• 2015 – I left Facebook
• 2019 – I left Instagram
• 2021 – I came back to Instagram but with only an Artist profile 

Why I left Instagram as an Artist in 2024

I’m not alone in leaving Instagram; many artists are leaving Instagram for some of the same reasons. The biggest reason was my creativity. Protecting my mental health and nurturing my creativity was becoming more and more challenging with the constant need to post in order to keep up with any kind of reach. 

Here is a short list of why I deleted my Instagram Artist profile:

1. Compare and Dispare – I did not like to have to remind myself not to compare where I was in my journey to others. Constantly seeing other artists so far ahead can be discouraging sometimes. Not all the time. Often, it’s inspirational, but sometimes, it can make it feel like you are far behind. It’s not even something we are always aware that we are doing.
2. Keeping up with the “algorithm” – I hate the word. There are so many strategies for getting more reach with your artwork. The most common is to post every day. EVERYDAY! Plus reels. I know some 3D artists that post every day, but I don’t have that amount of work yet to where I can pull something out to post up daily. Plus, those artists are also instructors trying to sell classes.
3. I changed the focus of my art – Because I changed the focus of my page from surface pattern design to 3D art, I think Instagram was still figuring out what my profile was about, so this affected my reach.
4. My art goals had changed – As my reach continued to drop, despite the number of followers growing, I started to ask myself if it was all worth it. I no longer had the same goals that I did when I started the account, and new people were not even seeing my artwork. Who you follow doesn’t even matter anymore. You will see what they want you to see. I would get three posts in a row from the same artist in my feed. Not all of them were even new. They would show me posts that were a few months old, and I would even get some that I had already liked.

I Never Set Out to be a Content Creator

With all of the issues above, my creativity suffered. I started to try to create for Instagram, not my portfolio, and most importantly, not for myself. I had to stop and ask why. Who or what is this serving? It wasn’t serving me. I’m still learning and growing as a 3D artist, and while Instagram can be a great place to show off your work, it wasn’t for me. There are other online communities of 3D artists out there for me to join, especially when I’m ready for some professional feedback. For now, I will continue building my portfolio and sharing work on Pinterest and my blog. 

Don’t Abandon Your Instagram

This post is about my experience and what I’m doing. Instagram is still a great place to showcase art; many people get business from their accounts. If you are facing some of the same issues I was, you do not have to abandon your account. You can easily take a break. Instagram is even set up for you to take a break, they allow you to temporarily deactivate your account.

Wait, why did you leave then?

As I mentioned above, my goals and art have changed dramatically. Until I have everything sorted out, worrying about growing on social media is just not something I have time for or want to worry about. If the account is there, I’m going to worry. So, I may go back once I have more work to share and start over with a clearly defined profile so that Instagram knows who I am trying to reach. Or I may never go back. It has been a little over a month since I left, and I still feel good about my decision.