"[...] the outside world, the non-digital world, is merely a theatrical space in which one stages and records content for the much more real, much more vital digital space. One should only engage with the outside world as one engages with a coal mine. Suit up, gather what is needed, and return to the surface." -- bo burnham, Inside

https://youtu.be/PSClBFUe-o0?t=26

solid bit, but weird transition into pirate maps

Inside is a feature-length movie filmed during the pandemic, definitely worth watching in its entirety if you haven't. It's incredibly creative. I linked the video at the second of three "bits" performed in a single scene. In this scene, he's pretending to be a standup comedian in front of an audience, hence the multiple jokes. Bo actually previously used the pirate joke in The Big Sick: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zYZ5efCcK_s

TBH I don't think Instagram particularly keeps people inside given that >99.99% of its users use it exclusively on mobile.

Because people don’t use their phones at home?

More people use their phones outside than use their desktop computers outside, though

From what I’ve seen, Instagram is better at motivating young people to go outside and do things than video games were in the 90s or even today.

With Instagram they see their friends doing things and it’s a reminder that going outside and/or spending time with friends is fun. There’s a lot of pearl clutching about people getting jealous about other people’s vacation pictures, but on the whole the active Instagram users I know are much more social and likely to spend time outside the house than the gamers or Redditors. By a wide margin.

May have been true when Instagram was a photos app with a chronological timeline of only the accounts you follow + a few ads. If you wanted to seek content outside of your personally curated feed it was in a different tab or you would need to search for it.

Now it’s a meme-shorts first platform that constantly suggests content outside of your follows and non-chronologically. You can’t opt out of “suggested content” pictures or videos in your feed for more than 30 days at a time and there is no option to permanently opt out. It’s not possible to opt out of shorts (reels) suggestions in your feed. It’s not possible to opt out of meta “threads” suggestions in your feed. I just opened the app and 5 of the first 11 items in my feed were sponsored ads, and 1 of the 11 was suggested “threads”.

Plenty of those memes and reels ARE focused on 'IRL' activities, though. Obviously the full experience depends on your feed, but a lot of content is created and shared around restaurants/activities/vacation etc and many millennials and Gen Z find inspiration there, whether from influencers or peers.

Is this still true though? My gut feeling is that most Instagram users are now passive, meaning they doomscroll and never post while lying in bed in their parents basement while their 20s sail by.

Not so much a stereotype as a reflection of the real people I know.

I think we used to see much more content from friends, I think the feed is now mostly content creators/ads/tiktokified, no?

> My gut feeling is that most Instagram users are now passive

That's just reflective of how the world has always worked. Most people are passive.

The point being made, I think, is that Instagram is a greater source of motivation to interact with the outside world than Reddit/Gaming is.

It sounds plausible enough to me but who knows?

You do have power onto your own feed (well, limited power). I snooze suggestions every month and follow basically zero content creators: I'd say 90% of my followees are people I've met irl. If I want to doomscroll and feel awful, the Explore/Reels tabs are more than enough.

Too true sadly.