Matthew Lang

As David Heinemeier Hansson leaves Instagram for the second time, the question of reality on social media rears it’s head again.

That’s the stereotype, right. Instagram isn’t the place for reality. It’s for the curated highlight reel. And I thought I understood that bargain. Surely people wouldn’t take this to be the whole picture. Surely they’d understand that it’s not all race cars and champagne and glorious sunsets. Surely I would understand that. Surely?

Regret-stergram by David Heinemeier Hansson

It’s a given that most people only post the good things on social media and this is especially the case on Instagram.

My own timeline comprises of different accounts. I follow accounts for family and friends, NFL, golf, a handful of celebs, and a mixed bag of other stuff. The point of my timeline though is that it’s mostly the good stuff. It’s the good times and experiences that people are having. And I like that. It feels good to scroll through.

I know that these photos in my timeline are not a true reflection on life. Behind every great photo, whether it’s a Malibu sunset or a steaming hot cup of coffee, is a lifetime leading up to the moment in time that the photo was taken.

I know there’s more to that person posting that particular photo. I know that person has lived a life leading up to that point and that it hasn’t been plain sailing, and that makes me appreciate that picture more and more.

I know social media isn’t a view of the real world, and that makes it easy for me to hop on and thumb through my timeline and then leave it for a while.

David also mentions Facebook recent bad press and ownership of Instagram as being another reason why he wanted to leave.

It wasn’t until the latest barrage of Facebook sludge washed over me that I gave serious thought to getting off again. To make another clean cut.

Regret-stergram by David Heinemeier Hansson

I think this is a bigger concern for users of Instagram. With the original owners of Instagram having now left, there’s little to stop Facebook putting their stamp on the platform.

I’ll keep posting to Instagram in the meantime.

Bloody typical.

I just spent a couple of hours adding a new field to a Rails application, built up the logic to use the new application, did a refactoring to clean it up and now realise that I don’t need the new field. I just need a small change in the application with an already existing field.

I don’t know whether to be happy that I don’t need the new field or annoyed in that I didn’t see how I could have done this without having to add the new field.

Either way, it’s a win, right?