Why I Sometimes Skip Instagram Stories

Ok, this may sound quite harsh, but hear me out. I was a guest speaker at a workshop for House 21 (a blogging magazine) a while back. We were discussing how to get the best out of your Instagram Stories. When I happened to mention that I sometimes skip or even mute people's Instagram Stories, the looks on people's faces on Zoom were a picture. I kind of forgot to explain why I do that. It's not that I'm being nasty or anything like that, I do have legitimate reasons for skipping or even muting Stories.

A woman holding her phone looking at Instagram Stories

Some may think I'm being harsh and callous, but Stories are one of my favourite features on Instagram, I want to be able to enjoy them and see the real YOU. People may even think that it may be just easier to unfollow the person altogether, but sometimes their feed photo gives me inspiration, so I like to keep following for that reason. I've said in the past that the Instagram feed is like a highlight reel of everybody's life, Stories allows me and your followers the chance to get to know your life away from your Instagram feed.


I swipe through Stories every day on Insta and I love them. Some are really entertaining, some are inspiring, some are funny, some are very creative and some are just totally unique. Like I said, Stories gives you the chance to show off your distinctive personality. Share your likes and dislikes, share your thoughts on trends, throw in some polls, questions and quizzes and tag where you are in the world. 


So yes, I am guilty of skipping people's Instagram stories. However, I do have my reasons -

1) You're being too negative

If you're going to be Mr/Mrs/Miss/Ms/Sir/Lord/Dame Negative Pants, then I don't need those negative vibes when I'm looking at your Stories. I'm all for positivity and/or realism. But negativity, nah. I'll just immediately mute you.

A woman holding her phone looking at Instagram Stories

2) Too many Stories at once

I'll be fair here, I'm guilty of this. Purely because I've forgotten what I've uploaded previous and I just keep uploading. Oops. But when it's the multiple and endless stories, it just annoys me. I only like them when somebody is talking about a topic that they're passionate about or they're raising awareness for something I believe in and want to learn about. If it's endless stories talking about their new lawnmower or criticising someone, then I'm not for that. 

3) They don't inspire me

Whether people find my Instagram Stories inspiring is another matter for another day, but I like to be inspired on my social media feeds especially Stories. If they don't inspire me or make me want to keep watching your Stories more, then I won't watch them. Inspiration, I'm always here for.

4) Not engaging with followers

Seriously guys, do a poll or quiz every now and then. Allow your followers to engage with you, engagement is such a key factor in everything we do on social media. I'm not saying do a poll every day, but just a couple of times a week. Or upload a 'Would You Rather' question or ask your followers for advice on something. Guaranteed one of your followers will have advice for you about a cold sore that has suddenly appeared overnight. If you're not engaging with your followers, more than likely I won't listen or watch your Stories. I do love voting in a poll guys, remember that. Even spark a conversation in DM's about a subject that has been talked about in their Stories. 

A woman holding her phone looking at Instagram Stories

5) Talking without using captions

I'm all for accessibility on social media guys. I know it can be time consuming, but if you're going to be doing a load of talking stories on tap - caption them. You could have a follower who has visual and/or hearing impairments and it's important that we make our feeds accessible to them. I won't listen to or want to watch your Stories if you haven't put in the effort to caption them. In some situations, I can't turn the volume up to hear your Stories when I'm working. Unless you want everybody in Sandra's workplace to know about your infected toenail or that you ate a banging takeaway the night before. 


God knows what your opinion will be of me after this, but I speak the truth. For the majority of the people I follow, I pay attention and will happily watch their Stories from the first one in the morning until the last one they post at night. 


What do you think about skipping Stories? Is it something that you have done?
57 comments
  1. Exactly! I am following close to 3k accounts. And it is physically not possible to follow up to all stories. So I also focus on the most important and valuable accounts for me. One more thing - the language. I follow bloggers from all of the world and admire their posts, but they make stories in their own language (not English), this is why there is no point for me to watch them. But this doesn't mean that I have to unfollow.

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    1. Viewing 3k Stories is an impossible task so I don't blame you for not trying to watch them all!

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  2. I'm not going to lie, I'm totally the same with the negativity. Obviously there's a difference between people sharing content that may not be totally uplifting and fabulous etc but jeez, some of the calling people out - negative cancel culture, I can't stand it so I too skip for those moments xx

    www.iridescentplaces.com

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    1. Yeah I agree lovely, negative cancel culture is something I am definitely not here for! xx

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  3. I skip ALL the time!! I have my favourites that I will watch religiously but other than that I am a total skipper.
    I do love stories but I never really use them, I am going to really give it a good go next year, try and be more present I think x x

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    1. I really hope you get to give Stories a good go next year! xx

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  4. I must admit I don't really feel one way or the other about Instagram Stories ... if I decide to have a look I usually find them interesting so that could be why. I am in agreement that if there is too much negativity I will mute or if it's just outright hate and division then I unfollow. Life is too short to have that in your face as soon as you go on social media!

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    1. I agree Molly, life is too short to have negativity on our social media feeds!

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  5. I am completely with you and I do it too!

    Danielle xx
    https://www.thereluctantblogger.co.uk/

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  6. I totally agree with all of these! I love insta stories for the more personal feel and tend to skip if they don't have that

    Nicola | nicoladaletraining.com

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    1. I'm glad that you agree Nicola! I love the Stories that have a more personal feel!

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  7. Loved this! I completely agree with you - if stories are too negative, too long or not something I'm interested in, I'll skip. They're one of my fave features though xx

    http://www.dellalovesnutella.co.uk/

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    1. Thank you Della! I hate it when people are being negative towards others on their Stories, I won't stand for that! xx

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  8. This is such a great topic to talk about. I think skipping stories is fine because not everything will appeal to you. It doesn't mean you don't like the person, just that you have different interests.

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    1. Absolutely Kelly, not every Story is going to appeal to you and like you said, it doesn't mean you don't like the person x

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  9. I always skip Instagram stories, mainly if there's too many posts or no captions!

    Tash - A Girl with a view

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    1. That's fair enough Tash, no captions is very annoying!

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  10. I skip stories sometimes too, I agree with you about the captions if your talking! I very rarely have my volume on xx

    Violethollow.com

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    1. It doesn't take too long to write captions with talking stories so it's so annoying when people don't do that! xx

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  11. I skip stories all the time too. I follow a lot of people so will only really engage with stories of my friends or creators I really like, or if the story is really engaging :)

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    1. Yeah it's great when Stories are creative and engaging x

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  12. This is an interesting post. See I am the worst for using Instagram stories and watching them. I tend to do a lot of skipping, especially if there are lots of them. I do sometimes enjoy watching the morning routines or something like that. I like it when they are polls or questions. I need to try and use Instagram stories more really. Thank you for sharing your thoughts.

    Lauren www.bournemouthgirl.com

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    1. Polls and questions are great to do in people's Stories aren't they?!

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  13. I am guilty of skipping stories too, especially if it just isn't something I am interested in. I'm also more likely to skip them when I am running short on time. I need to get more active in engaging followers, and posting stories more often during the week...work just gets in the way haha!
    Aimsy xoxo
    https://www.aimsysantics.co.uk

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    1. Yeah it's hard to keep active on Stories sometimes, especially when you're working! xx

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  14. I'm a skipper and muter as well, I don't particularly have a reason though, mostly the stories are far too long and there is a lot of waffling about nothing. Everyone has their own personal taste and we aren't going to appeal to everyone.

    Jordanne || Thelifeofaglasgowgirl.co.uk

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    1. Yeah I agree lovely, we aren't going to appeal to everyone and vice versa!

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  15. These are some great points! I've never thought of doing captions to my instagram stories!

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    1. Yeah it's always good to caption stories if you can!

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  16. This was interesting. I skip stories all the time for basically no reason at all? I see it, not feeling it that day, I skip. I've never really seen that as a bad thing until reading this! I don't really use stories that often, I should probably make more of an effort with them x

    Sophie
    www.glowsteady.co.uk

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    1. No it's not a bad thing at all really, Stories aren't for everybody and people do skip them! x

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  17. I can relate to a lot of the things you're saying here. I don't watch everyone's stories because there are so so many.

    www.fashionradi.com

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  18. This is such an interesting post. I always skip stories when someone is being negative - I'm following someone right now how is constantly moaning and being negative but I usually love their content so I'm sticking with it. I also always skip stories with no captions - I want to read what you're saying and cant' have my phone on loud!

    Rosie

    https://www.loverosiee.co.uk

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    1. That's so frustrating that this person you're following is being negative, but if their content inspires you, then stick with them! It annoys me so much when people don't caption their Stories!

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  19. What an interesting post! Captioning stories is so important and I can't believe there are people who still don't do it. Sometimes it may take a while, but it's always worth it so your stories stay accessible xx

    Hannah | https://luxuryblush.co.uk/

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    1. It's surprising how many people choose not to do it when it could be so beneficial to their followers! xx

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  20. I don't tend to watch stories at all TBH, it's just not my thing. But I do agree with captioning though, not just for accessibility but also because you can't always have the volume up :) x

    Lisa | https/www.lisasnotebook.com

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    1. Yeah you can never turn the volume up to listen can you? Doing captions is well worth it! x

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  21. I always skip stories for people who don't caption!

    Love, Amie ❤
    The Curvaceous Vegan

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    1. I'm glad it's not just me who does that too!

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  22. I think it's completely normal to skip stories tbh (I had no idea you could mute them!). I'm with you on skipping through the negativity, I don't want to be stressed out or feel miserable from Instagram Stories! Adding captions to stories were there's sound is so important! I always have my phone volume down so I pretty much never listen to Instagram Stories - if they don't have sound I'll just skip through. It's so important to make content accessible to everyone x

    https://www.femaleoriginal.com

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    1. Yeah the option to mute them is when you follow them, I do that if their Stories are a critical of others! I'm exactly the same Faye, if there's no captions, I skip them as there's no way I can lip read! x

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  23. This is very interesting! I tend to skip some stories as well, but it does depend on the mood for me as one day I might skip someone’s stories and then the next I will sit and watch that same persons stories! Also I have just started to build the confidence to speak on my stories, and I always caption them! It takes time but is worth it for others to enjoy (or not) my content 😊

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    1. Yeah I agree with you Gemma, it all depends on what my mood is like too! I'm so happy to hear that you have found the confidence to speak on Stories, that's amazing lovely!

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  24. I've never been great on Instagram as I can't quite get into it, but it's interesting to read your points in case I consider being more active. I don't always check stories because they don't share interesting things. You point about negativity is so true. There's alot going on currently and I don't need negative additions to that!

    Em | www.loveemblog.com x

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    1. No we definitely don't need any negativity in our lives right now! x

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  25. I very rarely click through stories there's just so many its overwhelming!
    I aim to reply to or interact with 5 a day and just leave the rest, I've got a few accounts on mute - mainly brands or organisations because I want my feed and story to be more authentic and full of people and their stories

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    1. Yeah it can be overwhelming when there are so many! Yeah it's surprising how many brands Stories I skip as they do seem endless!

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  26. I skip some stories for a lot of these reasons. Sometimes I’m just not interested in that particular part of their day! I also agree with the captioning - I don’t like to play things out loud when I’m watching in the staff room so captioning is important :)

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    1. Yes, captioning is so important not only for those who can't or don't want to play stories loud, but for those with visual impairments x

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  27. I LOVE to do a poll on stories, it really helps with my reach and it's fun to see what people are thinking!

    Katie | katieemmabeauty.com

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    1. Absolutely Katie, I do love uploading a new poll to my Stories on Instagram!

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  28. I love engaging stories (as well as doing it myself), also agree with when there are like 20+ stories it can at times become a bit overwhelming to see that much content at once from someone so I as well might skip those. Keeping a healthy relationship with social media is so important and thank you for giving some suggestions on one of the boundaries I can set.

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    1. Yeah I agree, when people post 20+ stories in a row, it's hard to keep up and not get the urge to skip!

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