Outlook

But Instagram is not just one app, so it’s effectively become three different Twitters: Instagram Stories for the people you know, the grid for people you used to know (and their weddings and babies), and Reels for probing the profoundly upsetting psychic void at the heart of our country.

Or rather, parts of it. I’ve realized it’s best understood as a series of apps stacked on top of each other. But taken as a whole, it is, also, effectively, the last relevant social network. The only place where, if you’re of a certain age — between 28 and 45, I’d reckon — you can actually passively see what you’re friends are up to. A specific kin... See more