In a recent Instagram reel posted by @subwaytakes, an account run by Egyptian-American comic and artist Kareem Rahma, where he interviews other artists on a subway and asks them for a “take”, New York comic Ali Kolbert had a really hot take. She said that she “doesn’t think straight men, especially married men, should be on Instagram”. Woah! She goes on to say, “…unless they are working. Instagram is a dating app. If you are a man on Instagram, you should have a private profile, fewer than 200 followers, you should have posted twice in your life, and you should not comment and DM. No fire emoji to someone’s story. Liking someone else’s photo is cheating.”

No, maybe I don’t think liking someone’s photo is cheating, but I do agree with her. If I were in the dating market today, I would like to date a man who doesn’t follow, like or care about hot women and their reels or photos. The less he does on Instagram, the better — except send me reels. If he is watching food reels, travel content, ASMR deep cleaning videos, or laughing out loud on prank videos, well, that’s fine with me. But leaving fire emojis on a hot girl’s video? Well, that’s a red flag. If a man is posting too many selfies, or gym photos (unless they are an actor or model or fitness creator or Rahul Khanna), that too is a red flag! Now, I do realise that could be considered hypocritical coming from me, who spends many hours a day on Instagram, posts 10 stories a day, and now writes a column on social media! But, hear me out.