My wife convinced me to install Instagram so she could send me videos of stuff. My experience was that at first it was annoying, then I found out I could follow some cool hobbyist folks working on cars, old computer systems, electronics, and of course all the mechanical keyboard content, as well as travel (I'm an extensive world traveler and used to post travel content on Instagram over 5 years ago) and I got sucked in. I started getting recommendations for comedy shorts and cat/dog videos which I enjoyed, and pretty soon I had a list of subscriptions which made it possible to scroll for hours watching videos which interest me without repeats.
The problem became:
1. Ads, the ads are bad because they're well targeted and mostly for things which are unnecessary or scams/knockoffs. I found myself buying things I didn't need from dubious brands.
2. Thots. Maybe because I'm a male between 25-50 or something, but even though I subscribe to 0 people on Instagram that qualify as thots, my feed started getting filled with women using Instagram to advertise their OF/services. Usually these seem cross-recommended as related to comedy shorts, cosplay/gaming, or cars, but aren't really any of those things.
3. Notifications. Instagram generates unnecessary notifications which ends up driving you back into the app, especially if you are like me and require there to be no number badges on any apps on your phone to eliminate FOMO anxiety.
The net effect was that I talked with my wife and deleted the app. It was the only social media app I've attempted to use in the last 3 years, and it lasted about 30 days before I felt it was necessary to delete it once again. I had used Instagram from 2015-2017, but had deleted it in 2017 previously. It's gotten much worse, and even in 2017 I felt it was unhealthy.
The thing is, I'm pretty sure Instagram is "better" (in the sense of less bad) than TikTok and many other apps that are more popular.