Reels are Reel Bad

Remember back in like 2016 (eight years ago btw, chew on that) when Snapchat came on the scene and we were all using that dog filter and blowing up our stories? Or even just stories in general; if you didn’t have Snapchat, you weren’t cool. Well, after seeing how well that business model was doing, everyone had to have a stories feature on their app to try and compete for eyes. 

That’s essentially what’s been happening with short form content right now only like, way worse. If you go on any social media app ever, there’s somewhere you can scroll an endless feed of short form content. Whether you think this content is good or bad, it’s there, and you literally can’t escape it. 

And there’s one app that trumps them all. It checks all the boxes in terms of bad: we’ve got terrible content, a terrible algorithm, and terrible people being terrible to each other. It’s Instagram Reels. It’s gotta be Instagram Reels. Obviously. You read the title. 

Every single time I open the reels portion of the app I am immediately hit with something that doesn’t align with anything that I morally, aesthetically, or even just generally believe in. Their algorithm doesn’t know SHIT about me. It’s honestly kind of pathetic. It’s like, isn’t the whole point for you to know what your audience wants to watch so you can keep their attention? 

And you know what, vine boom TikTok sucks too vine boom. Lately it has just turned into TikTok Shop ads disguised as reviews or videos using said product. It’s insane to me. Like every fucking video is an ad for something, even if it’s not an ad. Sponsored post, ad, sponsored post, ad. What happened to funny content without a plug of product or sponsor? WHAT HAPPENED TO BEING STUPID AND SILLY? 

I’m tired of scrolling, even if I can’t help it. I guess an upside of reels is that sponsored reviews or shop links aren’t every other video. I guess I’ll take a reel about a woman shoving pro-life ideology down my throat as her 15 million kids surround her. I don't know. Some people even have even claimed that they like Youtube Shorts, (I know, I couldn’t believe it either). What’s next??? The way things are going, we’ll have to endure like a Ring Door Bell reels feature. 

We don’t need sixty places to watch short form content. You can all compete with Tik Tok by, I don’t know, maybe offering other, better features. In our modern attention-economy everyone is constantly screaming to try and get you to look in their direction so that you watch eight-million of their ads and help pay off their private yacht. Your time is solely a method for profit. You get stuck endlessly scrolling, falling down various rabbit holes, when all you really wanted was like cat videos or something. I don’t know. What you watch is your business, please don’t tell me, I don’t care. 

Regardless of what platform you use, consider taking a break from time to time. Connect with people around you, read a good book or a subpar one. Also drink water. That’s always good.