Tracee Ellis Ross shares her rules for posting on Instagram

For many, a typical scroll through Instagram offers a sequence of flawless photographs featuring awe-inspiring holiday spots, content relationships and thriving green house plants.

But, wouldn’t it be nice to interrupt all that with a representation of the real side of life? Tracee Ellis Ross certainly thinks so.

While the majority of social media users strive to achieve perfection through their grid, the actor, producer and activist is calling for people to take the photo-sharing app less seriously.

In an interview with British Vogue, Ross said: “I know a lot of people take Instagram very seriously and there’s a lot of professional photography, but I’ve loved an auto-timer and a camera my entire life.”

The Black-ish director also shared the top rules she abides by when it comes to posting photographs on the ‘gram, revealing that she would never put an image on the app that she “wouldn’t mind being on a billboard”.

Other tips Ross shared included “When in doubt, don’t” and to wait a while before posting a photo you’re not sure about.

“If I’m not sure I love a picture, I’ll wait a month until I’m sure before posting it,” Ross said.

“Some of my videos don’t make it onto Instagram and I just send them to my family and friends.”

Lastly, the 47-year-old added that she tries to “have fun” with Instagram, adding that if the app ever starts to make her feel negatively, she removes it from her phone.

“I have no desire for my Instagram account to make me feel bad about myself,” Ross said.

“If it starts to make me feel insecure, I take it off my phone for a while. It’s good to have a balance.”

Ross isn’t the first celebrity to share this piece of advice. Earlier this year, singer Selena Gomez revealed that she deleted Instagram because it was making her feel depressed.

In June, the actor discussed the pitfalls of social media during an interview with Kelly Ripa and Ryan Seacrest.

When asked how she manages to stay engaged with her 152m followers on Instagram, Gomez said: “I used to a lot but I think it's become really unhealthy for young people, including myself, to spend all of their time fixating on all of these comments and letting this stuff in."

The star went on to explain how using the app so much would negatively affecting her mood and self-esteem.

“It would make me depressed, it would make me feel not good about myself, and look at my body differently,” Gomez added.

The 26-year-old continued, reminding people that in order to manage her social media use, she doesn’t have the photo-sharing app installed on her phone.

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