—for me to stop using Instagram, and to use these pathways to communicate that I set up years ago and then just let rot online? (instead of “on the vine,” you know, like the saying about fruit?)

One thing I found really annoying, lately, is that whenever I log in again, I get tricked into thinking there’s some activity on my posts, seeing this little dot on the heart:

That dot means nothing.

It used to mean that someone liked, followed, commented, or shared your post.  It always appears after a few moments now, every single time I log in. These days, I figured out it only means something if you see the dot, plus one of these other indicators that lets you know you’ve gotten likes, new followers, or comments.

The dot used to mean something, but now the dot by itself is meaningless. Friends, I’ve been so addicted to the IG app for so long, I can’t unlearn chasing that dot.

To be honest it did help give me more impetus to use it less. So now, here I am, back in your email inbox after a long time wandering around.

Here’s my plan:

I’ll try to keep you updated, but life is kind of a play-it-by-ear situation, in a lot of ways, these days.

I can’t promise that this will last, but I do promise to

-keep it short.

-keep it infrequent.

-keep it real.

Your friend,

E