Why you can’t escape Instagram
A reflection on Instagram’s dark patterns
Social media, Instagram in particular, has been an outlet for many people to avoid their reality. Seeing others live the life you dream of often provides that dopamine hit you would be getting from actually taking steps towards your goals. Instagram also creates a false sense of human connection. By interacting with posts and getting likes, the human brain is wired to feel good causing users to increasingly crave more and more. I often find myself mindlessly opening and closing the app repeatedly without even realizing that my brain is in autopilot.
The constant comparison to influencer’s “perfect” lives has also affected users to believe that their lives are not adequate. This creates an urgency to live similar lifestyles that are highlighted on the platform. Hence the emergence of ads and shopping directly in the app. Instagram knows its users are in a vulnerable state of mind and these targeted ads are seamlessly placed between posts and stories — there’s no escaping them. The shop feature has increasingly become a primary push by the app, making it within a tap away to purchase items to look, dress, or live like the “ideal” life that is portrayed.
Let’s say you are tired of all these mind games and want to take a break. Should be simple right? Well that’s what I thought when I tried to deactivate my account and quickly realized it would be no easy task. After clicking through every section on the app there was nothing about deactivating or deleting. This is where many users will become frustrated and give up. This is what Instagram wants, those of us in the design community refer to this a major dark pattern. However, I was determined to not be defeated. I started Googling away and many people on the internet were just as confused as me. Where would this deactivate feature possibly be hiding? It turns out that the only way to delete/deactivate is to do so from a computer. Who uses Instagram from their computer? I had to figure out my login (since my phone uses Face ID) and login from my laptop — another unnecessary obstacle Instagram has placed in the way. This wasn’t the end of my journey. The link was hidden deep within the help section. This process should’ve been simple and straightforward however Instagram has purposely overcomplicated it.
These are all common dark patterns that exploit users. Instagram takes advantage of the addictive nature of the app by pushing ads and shopping on users and ultimately making it near impossible to delete or deactivate your account.
