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I have found that if I get too attached to Reels or anything not actually in my feed it starts going south really quickly. I will go months and months without clicking on any of the explore or Reel side of things and I'm always the better for it. Stick with the people I'm already subscribed to and things tend to stay a lot nicer.

Now, I do get onto YouTube Shorts sometimes and those get even more unhinged. It starts suggesting some really ODD and creepy things and I will dislike or scroll fast and then it remembers I like the funny Vietnamese student living in Germany and feed me similar things. Or just anything with Hank and John Green and things are then delightful again.

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Misti, I meant to respond to this last week but I guess I never hit "post!" I totally know what you mean about YouTube Shorts - sometimes it feeds me great stuff and then it all goes downhill really fast :) I've been culling my Instagram feed quite a bit lately, trying to create the experience I want while I'm there. It seems to be helping, though I do wish there were more tools to help customize the experience.

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Do you have some sort of weird hater? I just saw a comment on TMH from a post in 2020. Unless that's the same one? I had my first experience with negative comments on an essay last week, and it was really upsetting. Maybe there is something in the air.

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Yes, Stacy, that's the one! It was so out of left field because 1)the post is so old 2) it's about Christmas and 3) it really didn't warrant such a passionate response, lol. I do think there is something in the air (and I'm sorry that happened...I know how upsetting it can be.)

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It did seem rather aggressive for a Christmas post. 😆

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I miss “cozy” IG too. It’s just so awful right now and I’m really trying hard to lay low. I don’t want to be a target since I’m adjacent. Yet, it’s next to impossible to retrain since I know people on both sides. Many very active, too. Combine that with other stresses in life.

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I hear you - it is just so much right now. I do think it's okay to Just Look Away.

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I agree, but a lot of people don't. During the height of BLM, with the protests, I had a "friend" tell me to my face (well, on social, since it was also the height of the pandemic, pre-vaccines) that if I wasn't vocal, then I was making problems worse. These are the people who stress me out and give me the most anxiety. I'm also very hesitant to "cancel" her for personal reasons. I basically don't respond much. Probably a good thing she lives a couple of hours away by plane.

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