Instagram is a great tool. But also a s***y one. But it is what it is. It's here, and it's not going away.

It can be useful, and it can be harmful, and it exposes us to a lot of things that wouldn't have happened 20 years ago.

For better or worse.

We know Instagram is marred with problems, from unrealistic lifestyles and beauty standards to scams and so on. You name it.

But there's another issue we sometimes don't talk about: that one guy from high school that rebranded into some sort of idiot guru.

This is one of the weirdest, cringiest, most annoying things in the world. And it happens quite often.

It all starts with John or Jane Doe.

John/Jane Doe was somebody you went to high school with. John/Jane Does is somebody you vaguely remember, from high school, was interested in, say, music. You remember John/Jane Doe trying to do music-related work while at the same time working, say, at a cafeteria to support themselves.

So far so normal, right?

But then fast-forward to 2025, and John/Jane Does is either promoting Ponzi schemes or has become some sort of idiotic guru of something or other.

I just opened my Instagram, and I found two such cases.

I saw a post from a girl I used to occasionally worth with, because we both work in the media, who's somehow become a self-improvement coach.

Christ on a bike gimme a break.

Then there's another friend, and this one is even worse. She's now promoting some sort of collagen product and posting pictures of some sort of whey product.

Flipping heck, mate. Can't they just post pictures of their food or heavily edited selfies like everyone else?