The meta migration pt. 2

An update on my gradual removal from IG – with less than a month left

Over a month ago I dropped the note that I’ll be leaving IG come July 9th (my birthday!)

At the time, the decision was pretty clear. I talk about the choice in this substack article, but essentially I made the choice because I no longer want to be operating in a space owned and operated by a company that I’m ethically at odds with. Not to mention, I’m ready to claim a lot of my creative energy back from a singular space that’s absorbed so much of it over the 12ish years I’ve been there.

But since that share, I’ve yet to talk more about my decision – and the truth is, there’s a part of me that’s kinda wishing I hadn’t made this commitment.

Oooph.

Even writing that here feels gross. But it’s true.

Despite this very real feeling, I’m still determined to take the leap. Many things have come up that (of course) are making it harder for me to leave (isn’t that always the way), but I’m not one to quit that easily, especially if my values are on the line.

With less than one month until my departure, here’s what’s been going on, and where I currently stand with this migration.

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I’ve been having so much more fun on the platform.

Since my decision, I’ve joined Social Life, created by the incomparable

Xanthe Appleyard

. I should have known that joining this community – hosted by a woman whose mission is to make the internet fun again – would likely pivot my perspective. But still, I jumped in.

Originally I joined with the intention of strategizing how to show up and leverage my other social spaces. I knew I didn’t want to leave IG cold turkey, and I wanted support with the gradual process of redirecting my creative energy. The community has absolutely lived up to this intention, but by proxy I’ve also rediscovered the pleasure and play that comes with the IG platform.

Because of this group, how I show up in all my spaces has completely shifted. I’m more relaxed, care less about how I appear, and am much more interested in sharing what I want to share – with the purpose of creating connection. This combination of giving less fucks while also feeling more connected to my messaging has built a new experience with community on IG. Not only have I gained more followers (who I actually engage with), I’ve also just been having a lot of fun.

I feel tapped in in a way that I haven’t felt in years, and that’s hard to choose to leave.

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I’ve recognized one big difference between IG and other social media platforms

On IG I can gain so much more information about what’s going on in the lives of my community, as well as the world, in just a few minutes. Plus, the visual storytelling component is one that I’m inherently used to as a graphic designer, so the ease at which my shares come out of me is hard to deny.

The combinations of stories and the feed offer up a ton of ways to connect and gain information through the fusion of text and visuals, and it’s just not as robust in the spaces I’m choosing to stay on (Substack, Threads, Pinterest, newsletter, podcast). Not to mention not everyone is as open to connecting on these other platforms as they are on IG.

This streamlined form of engagement is something I’m really going to miss, but I’m determined to find my own ways of creating the same kind of easeful connection in my other spaces.

Maybe if I were on TikTok I’d feel differently? I’ve heard things, but I’m definitely not willing to FAAFO in this instance.

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I’ve found so more create outlets for my creativity

Once I actually made the decision to leave the platform I felt this enormous surge of energy come back to me. The thought rushed in, “What am I going to do with all this creative energy inside me now that I’m not directing so much of it through this one funnel?”

Asking myself that question conjured even more exciting, adrenaline-bumping energy. The possibilities!!

I immediately started to consider how I could make my Pinterest shares more interesting, the time I would have to dedicate to my Substack articles, and how I could turn my podcast episodes into weekly installments vs bi-monthly. (I’ve since made this pivot with my podcast, and I’m thrilled with the weekly structure.)

I also had a huge download to co-create a new digital community space, which has since been in the early phases of development.

All the things I’d previously wanted dedicate myself to, and all the other things I’d really wanted to be doing with my time - painting, crafting, working in my garden - I’ve actually been doing. Less time content creating for this one platform has opened up a world of possibilities for what else I could be directing my energy towards, and I’m not even completely off the app yet.

This in itself is keeping me devoted to my commitment.

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Navigating social justice on social media is wild

Since making my decision live, I’ve been on a seesaw with the social climate and activism aspect of IG.

During the BLM uprising of 2020, my friend Megan Cuzzolino and I used social media as a way to come together and create a community of folks dedicated to actively dismantling racism - systemic, inter- and intra-personal. For over a year, we had weekly meetings and group discussions, and assigned ourselves readings and action steps. Many participants often shared how much the group empowered them to make changes in themselves and in their lives that they wouldn’t have done alone.

All of it would not have happened without the IG platform.

But 2020 was a very different climate than 2025, and now there is undoubtedly a part of me that’s afraid of how one’s social media presence could be used as a target. In this age of brewing fascism in the U.S., with folks being disappeared off the streets without due process, and politicians being coerced into complete devotion to a wannabe tyrant, it feels like literally anything could happen to anyone at anytime.

Liking a post almost feels like it could be putting a target on my back because whatever reigns were formerly on our digital information are completely gone. Maybe this is extreme thinking, but who knows how our information could be used against us in the near future, you know? Re: Palantir

At the same time, I feel an enormous pressure from within myself to speak up for what I care about and believe – when so many other people can’t, when so many other people are putting their bodies on the line for our collective rights, when so many others are having their rights stripped from them in this moment, when I have a little platform that I can and feel very compelled to use. In astro-speak, “as a Sag rising, Libra moon, and Cancer sun that’s just what I do and have always done” – she says while gesturing wildly with her hands.

Not to mention the privilege that I carry as a white woman, born in the US, without kids to watch out for, and who is her own boss - I can almost speak up for what I' believe in and have very few repercussions, so… why wouldn’t I? The contrast between what I’m allowed to do and say versus what others have so little access to right now is unimaginably staggering.

But the doing this in an online space that feels inherently unsafe, that’s also polarized with questions of performativism and genuine activism, is tricky and confusing. I end up defaulting back into the knowing that I will be jumping off this platform soon, so I won’t have to worry about the IG aspect of my risk-averse-activist self, but it definitely has me thinking about how I can (and must) to continue to show up for what I care about in other spaces - online and IRL. How to use the privilege that I have to do what I can.

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The compromise – I’ve chosen to stay on Threads

As I noted above, I’ve decided to keep part of myself on Threads for the time being. I have much less of a community over there at the moment, but at least I’m available to a large portion of the people I connect to on a day to day basis from IG.

This is not ideal, but unless I want to completely sever myself from people that I engage with mostly online, I have to stay in the room in some way.

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I’m still gonna do it, but…

Keeping all of this in mind, and having discussed all of the above with many a friend, I’ve decided to make my removal from IG potentially temporary.

I love to commit to a challenge and put myself fully into something, but I also don’t believe that everything lasts forever. I’m committing to at least 6 months, and if after that I feel the need to be back on the platform I’ll jump back on - no judgement.

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With 25 days left until my official last day, I’m feeling anxious but undeniably excited. Despite all of the reservations that have been building in me, and my very real fear of losing my connection to a portion of my community, I’m genuinely looking forward to my creativity, my time, my brain off IG.

I’ll be sharing a few more updates about this migration, in hopes that perhaps if you’re considering to do the same you feel a little less alone.

More to come.