Instagram wants me to make content — I just want to post a photo by Allison Johnson

sharing app at one point, but that changed long ago. Today, it’s a platform for Content. Why post a photo when you can turn it into an opportunity for engagement? Instagram wants us all to imagine ourselves as the content creators of our own little lives, prompting our followers to like, comment, and subscribe. You want to post a picture of your kid at the beach and add a song to play alongside it? Fine, I love that for you. I’d rather not personally, but that hasn’t stopped Instagram from shoving its app full of these opportunities to adorn your photos in the name of engagement.

But Instagram has the critical mass. And so even though it is a mess of an app now, it’s very difficult to go somewhere else.