Content Consumed: Love Island UK preview, Instagram reel FOMO, and more

Happy freakin’ Friday, my little consumers of content!
Today we’re chatting about…
💌 Minor Content Consumed update
🎥 Preview: Love Island UK Season 10
🏝 A micro-rant about Instagram Reels

Minor Content Consumed update…

I’ve been a bit busy.

My 9-to-5 job is more demanding than it was when I started Content Consumed this time last year. I’ve been taking on freelance projects, started my own LLC, and I’m semi-successfully querying the novel I started writing in 2019. I kind of thought my schedule would free up more after I got married in March—planning your wedding is truly a job itself—but, of course, I found more things to be busy with.

My point is: I’ve been a bit busy and you’ll notice the quantity of Content Consumed—as in, both the column and the actual amount of content I consume—has decreased. At the beginning of this year, I was still trying to write this column daily, and honestly, it burnt me out. And this is not a place where I want to be burned out.

This column’s my lil baby and I want to care for it (and myself). Quality > quantity, right?

So, there will be fewer Content Consumed columns every week from here on out. At least one column on Mondays, maybe an extra on Wednesday or Thursday. After all, some things MUST be discussed as soon as they happen, like White Lotus recaps or Twitter drama or Rihanna’s Super Bowl or the Gwenyth Paltrow trial. Important things!

You’ll still see album reviews, podcast recs, book reviews, and all those good things. Just… less.

Love you!

Love Island UK’s back, baby!

In case you missed the announcement on the Content Consumed Instagram, I’ll be watching Love Island UK Season 10 live with a VPN, just like last summer. It’s time-consuming, grueling stuff. But it’s so worth it.

I wasn’t a huge fan of Season 8, which was a winter season in South Africa. Kai and Sanam just didn’t capture my heart as the winners. Ron, Lana, Liv, and Will were entertaining enough.

But compare that to last summer, Season 8... that may never be recreated. Ekin-Su and Davide, Gemma and Luca, Tasha and tit-licker, Dami and Indiyah, Paige, Adam… the line-up actually might be as good as Season 5.

Yes, I’m in too deep with Love Island UK lore.

Anyways, you know Love Island UK is back because Women’s Aid has already put out a statement about one of the male islanders. George, who already has the face of an asshole, is in trouble before he’s even on screen.

The rest of the cast is hot enough. Mehdi and Ella are both, arguably, too attractive to come on the show. We’ve got a fair amount of diversity in addition to the classic, filler-heavy blondies.

See you on Monday, lads!

Don’t fall down the Instagram reels rabbit hole

Yesterday, I spent an hour and a half on Instagram reels.

And it was miserable. It was all so fake—which, in the moment, I didn’t fully comprehend, then hours later, understood. It’s the highlight reel of everyone’s life. Is everyone on European vacation?! Sure feels that way. How come I’m not sipping an Aperol spritz in Antibes right now?

Then this happened:

• I remembered that I felt this way last summer looking at Instagram. And I survived that.
• I reality-checked myself, because I am incredibly privileged and grateful and cannot allow social media to influence my life.
• I watched this reel (ironic, yes—a reel helped me with my reels problem). Be happy for people. Wherever you go, there you are.

A friend who grew up elsewhere but now lives near me in the Pacific Northwest told me: “Dude. You live in the PNW, a.k.a one of the most beautiful places in the country. Come on.”

I needed to hear that. When I thought about what this summer has in store—a wine weekend in the Willamette Valley, camping in central Oregon’s national forests, berry-picking in Woodinville in Washington, swimming in the Russian River in California, watching 4th of July fireworks on the Pacific Coast, floating the Deschutes River, celebrating a wedding in the countryside—I pinched myself.

What a dream. How lucky I am; how lucky we are! Don’t let Instagram reels tell you that your summer isn’t cool enough. Your summer is so cool.

And that’s it from me today! Thank you for reading Content Consumed. I’ll see ya next week!

Cheers,
Casey

👉🏼 Read the most recent Content Consumed over here.

👉🏼 Explore more content over on the Content Consumed Instagram.

👉🏼 Find out what I’m reading at my Goodreads profile.