The mysterious chaos of Instagram saved posts How do you manage them? Let's talk about it!

I am the most ontologically and absolutely messy person I know. And it’s not just about clothes on chairs (though yes, that too) or a lack of cleanliness. It’s a full-on life approach. I’m messy in what I read, in my to-do lists (usually written on random post-its or without titles, just a vertical column of vaguely actionable items), in my movie taste, in everything. I’m kind of magically convinced that all the things I need to do, say, read, revisit, reference, buy, watch, cook, or use for inspiration will simply return to me at the perfect time, according to an unwritten law of cosmic harmony. This belief, as delusional as it is, is also how I treat social media bookmarks and my Instagram saved folder. That tiny social media folder is where I throw in a variety of things I might want to dig up again someday. Is there even another way?

How do we use Instagram saves? An investigation

I asked my followers on Instagram, because the topic fascinates me. And the answers were surprising, considering everything I just told you. My followers, friends, and acquaintances answered in ways that were both different and oddly similar. The big takeaway? Order. Systematic thinking. “Folders all the way,” one person wrote. Others got more specific: “I have folders: crochet/DIY, recipes, places to eat, objects.” And the turnover rate is pretty high too: “I try to organize them into folders and periodically delete some.” It’s not just about practical stuff, even though that’s the majority. “Thematic folders, mostly inspo for photos/projects and recipes,” someone else shared. So, while the subjects are varied (there’s no shortage of memes waiting to be posted in Stories), one thing stands out: we’re afraid of losing track of things and try to organize the unorganizable, aka digital content.

The chaos of inspiration (and online shopping) vs. the infinite scroll

What seems to emerge, at least to me, is our desperate attempt to pause, to remember, to save the things slipping through our fingers in a world that scrolls faster and faster (surely you've seen at least one meme about the whiplash that comes from seeing a GRWM or a blush tutorial right after war updates and just before a pasta recipe). It's hard to stay inspired, to hold onto a spark, to treat online content as something to be curated rather than passively consumed. Another interesting angle is what we seek from Instagram. Some people go there for humor, others for recipes, some for artistic inspiration, and others just to find out what to buy to look like their favorite creator. The platform, which started as a photo-sharing app and has increasingly become an online store, still clings (or perhaps its users do) to a more meaningful role that’s always been there in the background. In this sense, the saved folder is our way of pushing back against the chaos of a social world that has rejected handwritten lists and paper but hasn’t really come up with a viable alternative. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t.