Okay, this is a page where I explain the "(not in use anymore)" on my social media profiles. SOME OF THIS can be explained by my "Why?" page but I thought it was worth going into specific detail for those who don't know.
I'll start with VampyFreaks as that one is the most "needs an explainer." In fact I've had people question why I mean by "(not in use anymore)" because it's apparrently a pretty popular website now. At least by the standard of third party social media. Truth is I joined because like with SpaceHey, there was a part of me that felt a little left out by "MySpace used to be AMAZING!" except in that case it was "VampireFreaks used to be AMAZING!" (I was really into the Gothic Subculture in my early 20s). Now when I joined SpaceHey I didn't really have any plans, I just went in and tried to shoot my shot of "IS THIS any better than the mainstream ones?" It's safe to say that one caught on for me. VampyFreaks...did not. I didn't really like the majority of forum discussions, I didn't understand the rewards system for posting and it didn't really have a single moment of "oh, this person and I seem to be clicking as online friends." So I abandoned my account.
Instagram is another matter. It's far more popular than VampyFreaks, Vampire Freaks, SpaceHey or even MySpace was back in its day so this one feels a little easy to write. Especially as there's a lot you can write about Instagram that's negative in nature. From the body image issues it causes to the reductionism of anything not "AESTHETIC!" to it's restrictions of minorities to obligatory embracing of AI to Zuckerberg using our information to sell absolute shit (how do these sites attract new people again?). I DID use the site solely to catch up with my real life friends. I also got a LOT of follows that were clearly from people who were trying to use me to game THEIR profile. Like "you follow me, I follow you" and...I find that extremely reductive of what these sites SHOULD BE (CONNECTING with PEOPLE online. Not trying to win a never-ending popularity contest that doesn't fucking matter!). The reason I gave that up was...partially due to reasons mentioned but I also noticed there WERE examples of just people not actually READING my posts on the site. I always did because "lets add context to the image" if not...it's just pretty people and pretty aesthetics who might as well be AI generated for all anyone on the site ACTUALLY cares. I mean there's no space on Instagram to be "real" about anything. So I deactivated my account.
This of course means that I COULD come back to one or both of these sites but I'm not really thrilled about the prospect of either. Especially towards the end, both sites felt extremely isolating and so...what's the point?
I COULD be persuaded into another mainstream one but...if you've read "Why?" you'll know that's an uphill battle.