Australian Model Who Quit Social Media Inspiring Others? Socality Barbie To Leave Instagram, Too

Just days after Australian model Essena O’Neill announced that she would no longer be posting to social media, other “Instafamous” accounts are following her lead.

On Wednesday, Darby Cisneros, the creator of the popular SocalityBarbie account, announced she would no longer be curating content and photos for the account. In just 22 weeks, Cisneros has posted 137 photos and amassed more than 1.3 million followers. She announced her departure from SocalityBarbie in the photo below.

https://instagram.com/p/9rFl36HjIc/?taken-by=socalitybarbie

Her caption reads the following.

“Hey guys, my name is Darby Cisneros and I am the creator of SocalityBarbie. I just wanted to introduce myself and thank all of you for enjoying this account. I started SB as a way to poke fun at all the Instagram trends that I thought were ridiculous. Never in 1 million years did I think it would receive the amount of attention that it did but because of that it has open the door to a lot of great discussions like: how we choose to present ourselves online, the insane lengths many of us go to to create the perfect Instagram life, and calling into question our authenticity and motives. It’s been a blast running this account but I believe SB’s work here is done. I will be leaving this account open for a while for people still want to look through and enjoy it. Again, thank you for following along. If anyone has any questions or just want to say hi feel free to email me at socalitybarbie@gmail.com ??#RIP (account NOT for sale).”

The Socality Barbie account has featured a Barbie-like doll in various situations, which routinely show up in social media. For example, in the past Cisneros has posted photos of Socality Barbie in a coffee shop, alongside perfect landscape scenery, and of course, perfectly coiffed before a mountain hike. Often the captions included versions of clichés

https://instagram.com/p/3e9YB7njLJ/?taken-by=socalitybarbie

https://instagram.com/p/8dxiBTHjHk/?taken-by=socalitybarbie

Cisneros’ announcement that she would quit posting to her SocalityBarbie Instagram account came just days after Australian model Essena O’Neill announced that she would be quitting social media.

Like Cisneros, O’Neill’s departure talked about authenticity and motives — particularly calling into question the authenticity and lifestyle of those who regularly post to social media in an effort to gain attention.

https://instagram.com/p/3p1OP8njAs/?taken-by=socalitybarbie

Admittedly, the two women initially took a different approach to the topic, as O’Neill’s authenticity revelation came years after she’d been living what she calls an inauthentic lifestyle, while Cisneros set out to poke fun at some of the ridiculous Instagram trends from the beginning.

When she made the announcement that she would leave Instagram, O’Neill said she wanted to focus attention on things that she believes are more important, including veganism, environmental issues, gender equality, controversial art, and social issues.

In the days since O’Neill left Instagram and the like, she’s struggled to focus the attention on these issues. Instead, she’s posted to her new site, Let’s Be Game Changers, begging the media to focus on her issues instead of focusing on her personal life. Essena O’Neill wrote the following.

“Looks like media want attention and a ‘hot story’, not real change. AM I THE ONLY ONE OVER THIS??? WHY NOT TALK ABOUT THINGS THAT REALLY MATTER???”

O’Neill goes on to sum up her journey to becoming “Instafamous” and how it made her feel about herself and her life in the long run.

“…I spent majority of my teen years being self absorbed, trying desperately to please others and feel ‘enough’. Spent 16-19 editing myself and life to be that beautiful, fitspo, positive, bright girl online,” she wrote. “I didn’t talk about topics and interests of me, nor did I pursue my childhood talent for writing. I didn’t find happiness in social approval, constantly edited and shooting my life. So I decided to quit, left humours educational captions meant to raise awareness, now I want to start something important.”

The juxtaposition of the positions taken by the two women starting out is interesting, but it seems that Socality Barbie and O’Neill eventually arrived at similar conclusions.

What do you think? Do you think Essena O’Neill leaving social media influenced Socality Barbie’s departure? Why or why not?

[Photo courtesy of Socality Barbie on Instagram]