Are You Having an Instagram Identity Crisis?

I have a confession to make. I seem to have commitment issues. You know when you have a love for one thing but then something else catches your eye? Yeah, that’s me with Instagram. I am being utterly genuine when I write that I have actually lost count of the number of accounts I have had in the last few years on Instagram.

My Instagram History

I started off like any other teenager out there: one little space online where I posted the odd sunset, food or family holiday photo. Then I became vegan and yearned to feel a part of a community after what felt like such a huge lifestyle change at the time. And so I created a foodie account. This lasted a while but was cut off once I completed school and started travelling. Once you’re relying on cheap food eaten in poorly-lit hostels to survive it is practically impossible to maintain a beautiful food account. And so I did the only sensible thing and started a travel photography one instead. This somehow died a slow death though. I’m sure there have been other, more temporary ones too – like the black and white minimalist profile I had somewhere along the way – but they have mostly faded into insignificance now.

Where am I now?

All of this led to the birth of my current main account, primarily set up to be linked to my blog but in reality becoming a place to showcase my street photography. I still love and use this account pretty regularly.

My main account: @alysjournals

So what’s the crisis?

If you’re a long-term reader of this blog, you’ll know that I’ve been getting into bullet journaling in the last year or so. I started off very minimally, but now I feel much more drawn (ha, the art puns) to the creative side of it all. In fact, you can see one of my latest monthly spreads creeping into my photography feed in the screenshot above. I want to share more of my art and bujo spreads, but also feel more part of a community of people doing the same. And so…

I started a new Instagram account!

 

Follow me here @alys.bujo 🙂

Yep, another new one. I can feel the masses rolling their eyes right about now. It felt like the right time though, and who am I to stop time and destiny in their tracks? On @alys.bujo I will be posting bullet journal spreads (monthly, weekly, etc.) and page ideas, as well as random bits of artwork (watercolours, acrylics, poetry, anything and everything).

 

You may be thinking…

Does this mean you’re deleting your other account?

Nope! Definitely not. Photography is my other big creative passion, and I’m connected with so many great bloggers over on my main account. So don’t fret (I know you were), that one is sticking around. From now on though, anything arty will be up on @alys.bujo instead. So if that sounds like your kind of thing, head on over and check it out ❤

So is this an identity crisis of sorts?

I’d argue yes and no. But mainly no. This is because, as humans, we all have a range of hobbies and preferences – I don’t think it’s odd that what we focus on developing changes as we grow. It’s also not strange to me that people feel pulled towards presenting themselves in different ways at different stages of their lives. Almost like how your fashion sense now is probably (hopefully?) different to your wardrobe choices as a twelve year old. And your haircut, your favourite show on TV, your Friday night meal of choice…

So no, feeling the urge to change Instagram accounts, or the content you post on one account, isn’t an identity crisis. It’s a development of who you are and the sorts of things you want to project into the world. What makes it feel like a crisis, and why I partly answered yes to the above question, is the way Instagram is designed. This social media app is carefully crafted to box people into certain things – you post photos in one rough theme and follow others who do the same (travel photography for example). This curates your feed roughly into a singular category, making it easier to show you similar accounts to follow and target you with advertising (might just be the conspiracy theorist in me thinking that, but I think it may have a point).

Either way, this setup makes it difficult to display several parts of your identity in one place. I’m not saying that there aren’t people who do this successfully, but I think there’s a general vibe that photos should flow together and followers should be able to predict what’s coming up. And I get why it’s like that, it’s not necessarily a bad thing. But it does explain my ping-ponging journey through visual aesthetic territory, and is the reason why I have now started my new account.

If you are interested in all things creative, or have an arty account yourself, please head on over to check out my photos – I really appreciate the support! It will be the first place to hear about new bullet journal posts up on here too ❤

I’d also love to hear your thoughts on this topic – do you find it difficult to stick to one Instagram account/theme on your profile?

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Art/bujo Instagram (@alys.bujo)

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All enquiries: alysjournals@gmail.com