Artist to Artist: When the Algorithm Starts Feeling Personal

The social media algorithm

I had to admit today that Instagram was starting to affect my mood.

And whole time, I thought I was ascending. Healing. Evolving. Imagine healing through real life heartbreak just to let an app humble you.

No. Absolutely not.

These algorithms are killing y’all. And as an artist, all I can really ask is: what gives?

Social media is the new normal, and somehow we’ve allowed it to start grading our God-given gifts. That is wild to me.

I’ve been writing for over 20 years, since writers were really writing on hard copy, and somehow an app almost convinced me to question what God put in me.

Writer/Blogger having issues with algorithm

Not just for a moment either. Deep enough to make me question my voice. Deep enough to make me feel like all the years I spent writing, building, feeling, surviving, and trying to say something meaningful were being reduced to whether strangers tapped a heart fast enough.

That is a dangerous trade.

Old fashion Typewriter

Because writing was never supposed to live or die by an algorithm.

That’s the strange thing about Instagram. It can make a gifted person feel invisible. It can make a thoughtful post feel like failure just because it didn’t perform.

It can make you confuse silence with lack, low likes with low value, and poor reach with poor writing.

And after a while, it stops feeling like “just social media.” It starts feeling personal.

Not because the app is honest, but because the artist is tired.

So I had to go back to my roots and ask myself why I became a writer in the first place.

And I know for sure it was not to be judged by Instagram.

So here are 5 things I did to validate my gift without asking the algorithm for permission:

1. I started writing for myself again.

This wellness journey is my walk. My life. My testimony. I started writing because I needed a voice, and that is still reason enough.

2. I found support outside the algorithm.

That same day, I joined a spiritualist’s live, and she said something that stayed with me: wellness is a hard space to break into. Most people crave drama, easy dopamine, and distraction. Not everybody wants depth. Not everybody wants healing. And honestly? That made sense.

3. I tapped back into real life.

As writers, we can get engulfed in our craft, especially when inspiration hits hard. But life exists outside the post, outside the caption, outside the app. Go live it.

4. I stabilized my nervous system.

Releasing art can make you feel vulnerable. And when it gets little response, that vulnerability can turn into rejection fast. When that happens, put the phone down. Breathe. Pray. Meditate. Come back to yourself.

5. I validated myself.

Because if God gave it to me, Instagram does not get to define it.

My gift is still here. My voice is still here. And no algorithm has the final say on what I was called to do.

Have you guys ever felt this way? Type in the comments