Scrolling back to your very first Instagram post is a strange exercise. It feels less like nostalgia and more like forensic analysis. The filters were heavy handed, the captions naïve, occasionally embarrassing, and far too earnest for anyone who had not yet learned better.
There is a certain grim comfort in it, though. A reminder of who you were before you understood how shallow the whole thing would become. Before likes mattered. Before algorithms dictated visibility. Before everything had to be performative.
That first post was not trying to impress anyone. It was just there, quietly existing, made by someone who still believed intention counted for something. A small digital marker left by a version of yourself that had absolutely no idea how cynical the journey was about to get.
Matthew Sapsworth (with a little AI)