Instagram is important to me for keeping up with family because all my cousins post stories of their kids on there, so it's how I keep up with them and what their kids are up to. Same with a bunch of my friends. It's replaced Facebook which replaced family mailing lists and newsletters. It's also how they keep up with what I'm doing.
Also a bunch of my younger ex-coworkers and I are only connected on Instagram, and even some of my business contacts. I literally just got an investment lead via Instagram.
Why do you need to keep up with what other people are willing to announce to the world they are doing though?
I always found this a tad odd. Most people would only share flattering or happy pieces on social media so you cannot account for hardships or problems they are facing in real life which I assume would be one objective reason to keep up with family.
Well first off they use private accounts so it's not announcing to the world, just people that they know. And many of them post the bad stuff too, especially when they are soliciting advice.
I got it. I never thought of people using Instagram or any other social media for soliciting advice on sensitive personal topics which ought to be ephemeral and private (encrypted instead of available to thousands of employees at Facebook and elsewhere).
I have a hard time believing every friend of yours is a security engineer. And if they are, maybe you need to pop out of that friend bubble a bit and see how the other 99.9999% interact with social media.
Also a bunch of my younger ex-coworkers and I are only connected on Instagram, and even some of my business contacts. I literally just got an investment lead via Instagram.