Warning: My simple sketching hobby feels twisted by Instagram's algorithm now.

I catch myself changing my art to fit what the app might show people, and it sucks.

4 comments

4 Comments

You're changing your actual drawings to suit an algorithm? That's honestly shocking. Sketches are supposed to be personal, right? Now you're probably making them all bright or copying trendy things. It turns a fun hobby into a stress about likes. Pretty grim when an app controls what you draw.

kai4451mo ago

Yeah the app controlling what you draw is the worst part. I went through that same garbage with my hobby account. Felt like i was just making stuff for the feed instead of myself. What finally clicked for me was making a second, private account just to post the real messy, fun stuff for a couple close friends. Having that one spot with zero pressure to perform for an algorithm totally broke the cycle for me. Now my main account can do whatever and i don't care because my real joy is safe over on the private one. It sounds simple but separating the "for me" space from the "for them" space saved the hobby.

uma_williams1mo ago

That's such a smart way to handle it, honestly. Having a separate private spot just for the messy, unfinished stuff (you know, like color tests that go nowhere) sounds like it would totally change the feeling. The pressure to make everything "for the feed" really guts the fun out of just playing around.

lindag331mo ago

Right, the "pressure to make everything for the feed." That's the whole problem, @uma_williams. It's like you start picking colors based on what you think will get seen, not what you actually want to try. You end up with a sketch that's all bright and trendy but feels totally empty, because you made it for them, not you. Having a private dump for the ugly experiments is the only way back to the real fun. Who cares if a color test looks bad? It's just for figuring stuff out.