# Instagram Hacker Approved page: https://hackerapproved.com/p/instagram/ 79 people recommended Instagram in Hacker News comments, 111 had mixed feelings and 666 criticized it, November 2025 to October 2026. People who said how long they have used it report a median of 5 years, among 10 people. It was recommended in 12 of 12 months, in 63 threads. It does not meet the Hacker Approved badge rule. **Verdict:** Most people who give an opinion criticize it, calling it addictive and saying ads and algorithmic feeds bury friends' posts; those who recommend it use it to keep up with friends, discover creators and reach audiences for free. Summary written by Claude from the comments below. Claude agents reviewed it against the quotes on 2 Nov 2026. ## What people warn about - Addictive engagement-driven design (6 comments in the sample): "Instagram is stealing my wife. Literally, the mental rot it inspires from echo chambers makes sensible human conversation sadly very hard." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49090397)) "you need to specifically adjust your feed every time you open the app, which makes it kind of useless against the addictive nature of it" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48354379)) "Instagram doesn't go to people and ask them what they want, they study behavioral psychology to get people to use their products more." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47079674)) - Algorithm buries followed accounts (3 comments in the sample): "Instagram until about 2 years ago was pretty cool about just showing you people you follow instead of dumping unwanted algorithmic shit on you." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46233225)) "When I open Instagram that is still connected to all my old friends, class mates…" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49596184)) "the algorithm" (of Twitter/X, FB, Instagram, YouTube, Google, everyone) has propagandising biases that damage society" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48875150)) - Spam and erratic moderation (3 comments in the sample): "The moderation policies have always been a bit erratic with instagram…" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46233180)) "Your Instagram account has been suspended. This is because your account, or activity on it, doesn't follow our Community Standards on account integrity." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49625959)) "child trafficking being advertised through Instagram with public but non explicit photos, and Meta's failure to remove that content" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49208003)) ## Why people recommend it - Free reach for small businesses (4 comments in the sample): "People are getting access to an instantaneous global publishing platform with hundreds of millions of eyeballs at zero cost to themselves." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45958924)) "has been a boon for small businesses, providing them visibility in the marketplace that was previously unavailable to them" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46961578)) "the best solutions I've seen to this problem seem to be arising on instagram due to its good location based advertising" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46647799)) - Discovering creators, books and events (2 comments in the sample): "I've had far more success personally in growing my reading list with books I ended up loving by following a few people on Instagram" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49277575)) "I like my twitter, youtube and insta recommendations and have discovered many new creators who I wouldn't have otherwise." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49658114)) - Communities for any interest (1 comment in the sample): "There's still a community for any subject on both Facebook and Instagram except it's all buried under spam and bad intentions." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49206549)) ## Other social networks people recommend - [Mastodon](https://hackerapproved.com/p/mastodon/): 201 recommend, 56 mixed, 202 criticize - [Bluesky](https://hackerapproved.com/p/bluesky/): 180 recommend, 103 mixed, 347 criticize - [X (formerly Twitter)](https://hackerapproved.com/p/x/): 119 recommend, 102 mixed, 920 criticize - [Facebook](https://hackerapproved.com/p/facebook/): 70 recommend, 166 mixed, 1260 criticize ## Where to get it - [Visit the official site](https://www.instagram.com/) ## The badge A product earns the Hacker Approved badge when at least 10 people recommend it, recommenders outnumber critics at least 2 to 1 (mixed feelings count toward neither side), it was recommended in at least 4 of the 12 months and in at least 5 different threads, and no single thread supplies more than half of the people who recommend it. Health and money products are never badged. ## Cite as Hacker Approved, "Instagram", https://hackerapproved.com/p/instagram/ (79 recommend, 111 mixed, 666 criticize; Hacker News comments, November 2025 to October 2026). Counts updated 2 Nov 2026, with data through October 31, 2026.