Bye Instagram and Threads 👋

Please remember these are my own thoughts and opinions. Basically, even if you disagree and comment, I am open to that. What I'm not open to is showing your butt to the world and being disrespectful to others or myself.

It's been a long time coming and I decided it was time to take a break from Instagram and Threads. This is something I've been contemplating for a while and some recent events have made that decision more solid. I've always had Facebook and decided that's where I want to grow and continue to interact via my socials. I'm adding Kofi (printable patterns over Etsy) to the list and the blog (in case anymore wants my true feelings). 

Why the break?

The main reason for this break is these platforms are becoming the Tik Tok of reels and text. Posting anything on or commenting on has become the new sport of cyber bullies (although interestingly their community standards don't address this anymore unless you're under 18 🤔) and more fake interactions for the sake of engagement. If you have any opinion whatsoever there's about a bazillion other comments just the opposite. Those are fine as people can disagree. No complaints about that! However, disagreement comes at a price of these individuals who wholeheartedly think they are the moral police and can dictate to you. They move together as little cliques of superiority although nothing is really rooted in fact and reduces the interaction to a profanity laced personal attack on who they disagree with. Then, comes the echo chamber of those who help them. It equates to adults (young and old alike) as temper tantrums akin to toddlers.

 The other is fake interactions. By fake..I mean this follow and comment for a follow and comment. Forced engagement and interactions. It's gotten to a point if someone is wanting engagement, they send dms to their followers or maybe some of their followers. I'm not sure which because lately it's been blowing up my dms. If I want to engage...I will!

Speaking of engagement....

Rage bait! Engagement bait! Anything and everything to get people to follow, like, or comment. Most think it's the algorithm gods who hate them and their posts aren't getting out there. Some of that may be true. There does seem to be a shift from a platform to run businesses and engage with different communities to what social media was a decade ago. However, it hasn't stopped people from posting the same content or types of content. It's the same themes, multiple posts on the same topic (not even trending), or dragging others in the vein of "transparency". It's also the same content of how horrible the world is mixed in with please pity me because my life is so horrible. I'm not responsible because xyz. Personal responsibility has flown the coop. The follower count and the obsessive nature and importance. God forbid someone have more followers. This absurd idea of small and large accounts used to not be a thing. This I'm afraid is thanks to people wanting to be influencer grade and not business. You can make content for your business and that's called marketing. Definitely not something we are seeing if it's about the followers. Also, if it's not about monetary gain, why do you need a larger following? Obviously, there has to be some monetary gain or it wouldn't be so important.

Omg the AI 

 I hear one more thing about AI, I'm going to scream! We all get it. You don't like it. Here's the thing...these so called "experts" at spotting it aren't always right. In the singular niche of the crochet community they are calling it AI when it probably isn't. Most of these AI patterns are made from smaller weight yarns. Funny thing is there's a really big difference on how these two fibers react and flow. Just because you haven't seen it before doesn't mean it's AI. It probably means you need to expand your skills outside of a singular fiber and type. You're trying to report something that may not be AI and a legit pattern. More and more photo and video editing apps are using AI. People are adding AI backgrounds to enhance their photos and not necessarily the product.

Speaking on the Topic of Reporting 

There's an interesting trend I'm seeing on this very topic. This trend is "stolen" patterns or reporting patterns as "stolen" as IP and copyright infringement. I was researching on Etsy and I noticed an interesting thing about reporting. Unless you are the IP holder, then, it's really hard to report a pattern. This is really interesting Given the fact so many are saying their shops are being shut down due to reporting. This is outside of the more recent shutdowns due to real IP infringement (Fanart).

 Given how many patterns and influx of designers there has been in more recent years, I shouldn't be surprised. Here's the thing I am! Is there a massive amount of patterns stolen from other designers or is it much more petty in nature? I do think there is some out there. When people are to lazy to rewrite it and use a watermarked copy and reselling it. For others, I think, they are obsessed and engaging in petty jealousy because they may not be as successful at their "business". This idea where everything should be fair for everyone 😂. Yeah competition is fierce, especially, since everyone jumped on the crochet (sorry amigurumi trend) since the pandemic. When I started out a decade ago, there wasn't all these platforms to get patterns out. Most were free and in a blog format on a website or YouTube. Few designers had website to purchase a digital download. The thing about patterns is they used to be a really good passive way to make money. Now, there's a gazillion dragon and snake patterns out there and just as many people trying to make money off of it. By the way, not all the patterns are created equal. Not even the ones that have been "tested".

It's just been a crazy rollercoaster of BS and I for one am over it. I just want to enjoy my craft outside the confines of poor content and even more bs engagement. It's sad that a small niche among a larger community is dictating and overtaking a really great community. It's worse where collaboration, in the real sense, it overtaken by petty and underhandedness.

Final Thought 

If you still want to interact with me in a civilized manner, you can find me hanging out on Facebook.