Bye, holiday posts.

Posting isn't disappearing. We want a room that fits the conversation.​

Read time: 5 mins

Hi Reader,

It's been a while. Took a break in August. Hope you had a good summer too.

We went on a tiny family holiday. Our first trip that wasn't visiting family, or a quick escape to the usual beaches or mountains. Another country, and a new place.

I've posted nothing about it on social media. It just felt good to appreciate that we could even go without turning moments into content.

Since then, I noticed something simple: most of us aren't really posting publicly anymore. We're still online, maybe more than ever, but people's private lives remain exactly that. Private.

Seeing a few people who don't post throughout the year become suddenly active during August with the holiday photodumps helped me notice this, too. "Oh! I forgot this person had an Instagram. Here they are in [insert exotic location.]"

From the experts

Personal

It's easy to understand this shift.

The feed in 2025 is noisy. More ads, AI content, and brand/creator clips than family and friends.

Trying to compete with that in our ordinary lives is a bit cringe. It's not a space to put yourself out there anymore.

Our reason for going to social media is different from a few years ago. I go for a quick watch or scroll, and then I'm gone.

This summer, I knew about a handful of people's August plans through private chats, small WhatsApp groups, and coffee with coworkers.

Platforms have fully sold themselves to ads and creator content, and they've lost grip on normal lives. It's slipped out the side door. Maybe that's a good thing - if it reclaims conversation. It was refreshing to start conversations with room to expand, like "How was your summer?" instead of conversations with no legs, like "I saw your post. It looked nice."

Feeds now feel like TV, with so much professional content (even I've got someone working on videos for me). A few broadcast, most watch. That's fine, but maybe we should call it what it really is now.

The platforms' main clients now are advertisers. By engaging with this content, their decision is justified.

Everyday posts from friends are rare. They've been replaced by chats. The coffee or group selfie posts are gone.

It shows me that we're moving towards private-by-default, not public-by-default. Our personal sharing is in DMs, small chats, and Close Friends.

We still want a platform to connect with people. As WhatsApp adds more business features, it may feel more commercial.

The 24/7 digital conversation isn't over. We just want a place where it's hard to measure, and therefore harder to sell to advertisers.

Smaller circles feel safer and kinder. We've learned the downside of public sharing. We've passed peak social media.

We're moving on with our digital habits.

Escape the algorithm - selection of links

Post: Hobbies don't feel like hobbies anymore. An idea that resonated hard with me. I was lucky to have plenty of photography work this summer, and I couldn't help but remember how it started as a hobby.

Video: Why everyone is quitting social media, by Matt D'Avella. If you didn't already follow him, he is a good filmmaker. He touches on a lot of the topics I talked about above.

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News: EU Chat Control law is something that has flown under the radar. The proposal aims to introduce new obligations for all messaging services operating in Europe to scan users' chats, even if they're encrypted. The final proposal is expected soon. It will go to a vote in October. What did we talk about earlier regarding safe digital conversations?

Why it matters here: if intimate conversations move to smaller rooms, proposals that scan private chats collide with the very spaces people are choosing for safety and connection.

Talk: I am taking my talk, Escape the Algorithm, to Barcelona on the 25th of September. Impostor syndrome loading? Yes. But I'm also excited to give the talk in front of people I don't know. I'll send an email when the sign-up link is final. For now, you can see what the talk is about here.

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See you in two weeks.

​Peace,

Has

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