UPDATE: (January 7, 2025): I feel vindicated my decision to cut off my engagement with all things Meta (Facebook and Instagram) and not fight for reinstatement of my Instagram account (there really was no way to anyway). After reading yesterday how Meta was actively using AI fake profile agents to engage with users in order to increase time on their platform, to today’s news that they are cutting Fact Checkers and reducing censorship. I’m not for censorship, and I think Fact Checking is the duty of the user, but combining fake news with fake agents in order to monetize your viewers—how do we not know if Meta itself is not making up stuff about us, their user base? Social media is already prone to messing with the mental health of its users, to openly embrace fakery for the pursuit of profits means Zuckerberg’s company is squarely in the camp of companies I will permanently boycott. And if those are the only platforms you’re on as an artist, without your own website—sorry you’re falling for this.

I’ve left Instagram (and Facebook and all things Meta) after nearly 10 years on the platform. With this transition I’ll be posting about my art here, on my own blog, on a platform that I own, and am not subject to the same draconian, arbitrary Terms and Conditions of some behemoth corporation that doesn’t care about users, only about profit.

The truth is, the journey of leaving Instagram is many years in developing, but the suspension of my art account (@nate_sullivan_artist) and my design business account (@mountainhutmedia) in June 2024 has meant, one, the platform could not be used by me, and two I realized that any amount of appeal was going to be a nightmarish journey of wasted life energy for what accounted for a few social media followers, and so the journey was concluded much sooner than my lackadaisical approach to this point.

If you stumble on this post and you’ve followed me on Instagram, thank you. I really appreciate the support. While I can’t return the favor through social media, I’ll do my best in other ways when possible. Leave a comment, say high. I’m going to get into regular posting here. And I’ll also be working on a monthly art-related newsletter so stay tuned.