Bring Your Instagram Feed Back to Life

I'm sure that over the past 4 months, many of us have spent a considerable amount of time scrolling, refreshing, scrolling, refreshing. Following the same 100s of Instagram accounts and viewing the same 1000s of posts and stories can certainly start to get boring. It's so easy to build an engaging and dynamic feed by making considered choices when choosing who to follow, and yet often we still find ourselves scrolling through a long, lifeless, repetitive feed. 

So if you made your Instagram account back in 2012, and simply have not unfollowed a single account since, have a cleanse and get rid of those 50, 100, 200 accounts that you have no interest in following. I'm not saying unfollow all your friends and mutuals, meme accounts and celebrities - if you enjoy humour on your feed or like to keep up with what your favourite celebrities are doing, then that is justification enough. I'm talking inactive or spam accounts, fan accounts from when you were obsessed with Twilight/One Direction/Harry Potter back in the day, people you have had one conversation with 5 years ago but just continue to follow out of politeness. Simply, unfollow accounts that do not add any value to your life or your feed. Instagram algorithms mean that we do not actually view every account's content anyway, so what is the use in filling your feed with meaningless posts? 

In finding new pages to revive your feed, think about what you are interested in and follow accounts/pages that fuel your interest, whether that's makeup artistry, history, or cooking. Following things that are relevant to your hobbies and interests, your career, or your goals, for example, are all going to improve your Instagram experience.

It's crazy how much we can just scroll and scroll without actually thinking about the content we are viewing, let alone whether or not we actually like what we see. As it has developed, Instagram has become so much more of an art form and creative outlet - everybody is different, but I'm sure others will agree that it's about so much more than just seeing your friends' photos. On my feed, I want to see bold colour and cool graphics, career tips, news and politics, delicious food, I want to follow blogs and join communities - I want to be interested every time I load the app.

Putting the time and effort into freshening up your Instagram feed my seem like a bit of a chore, but it is absolutely worth it! So to finish off, these are my top 10 of recently followed accounts within the last 4 months. (Oh, and maybe follow mine whilst you're at it... @rosiecossins)

Politics, current affairs & updates

• @shityoushouldcareabout
• @soyouwanttotalkabout
• @simplepolitics

Uni, careers & comunities

• @unigirlsnetwork
• @galswhograduate
• @girlsinmarketing
• @thefemalehustlers

Lifestyle

• @webottomlessbrunch
• @beautifuldestinations
• @beautifulcuisines
  

What are your current favourite Instagram accounts? ♥️

I Opened My Eyes in the Middle of October

As I type, my gaze flicks between the words I am writing, and the downcast view from my window that tints my room grey. My fingers are pressing the keys as quickly as the rain is falling - rapidly but thinly, like a multitude of sharp little needles. The needles are so thin that when my focus shifts, the rain turns into a drizzly mist. The air is calm and silent, reminiscent of a crisp October evening. 

Not quite the description you would expect considering we are a week into July, when evenings should be muggy and thick with mosquitoes, and we don't mind too much because the heat will soon enough disappear and we'll be back to wishing for long warm nights. 

There is some serious pathetic fallacy going on in the UK right now. A few weeks ago we hit 100 days of lockdown - a number that was never anticipated back in March when lots of people were thinking they'd still be able to fly out to Marbs at the end of May after Boris Johnson had single-handedly eradicated the virus. With each week of lockdown that slips by, so a downcast mood spreads across the UK like the grey clouds through my window. Realistically, if we all had time machines to just take us straight to January 2021, to a date that is hopefully looking a little less covid-y and a little more mingle-y, we wouldn't have missed out on much more of a summer than we're missing now. Whilst more and more summer activities, like going to the pub garden or catching a flight abroad, are slowly becoming allowed again, there is no sense of normality attached.   

But even though the weather has been so dreary and downcast for the past week, maybe it's been a blessing in disguise. The more grey days, the less mass gatherings, the less pub garden trips, the less beach crowds - the less chance of a second wave. We can also forget the pandemic for a day, because now it's the weather stopping us from hosting a big garden BBQ or going on a beachy day out - not the risk of contracting the virus. 

I am really not a sun worshipper anyway, so I never mind too much when another summer of sunniness but not stickiness rolls around. But there is just something about the weather tonight that really makes me feel as though I blinked and opened my eyes in the middle of October.