The Effects of: Instagram

This is the start of a mini-series where I'll be uncovering aspects (apps,websites,trends, ect)of the 21st century that have affected my generation (GenZ). I'll talk about what they are and how they've affected my personal life, and sometimes I'll touch on the global impact but I'll mostly focus on my experiences. 

Also, let me know your opinions by leaving a comment on my latest Instagram post! I'd love to read what your thoughts are!

P.S You'll notice I "air-quote" alot in this post. I'm speaking on terms that are very relative and could mean different things to different people.Hopefully it's not too distracting, I just don't want to generalize everyone's opinions.

Oh Instagram! This social media network is booming, but of coarse you don't need me to tell you that unless you've been living under a rock for the last 10 years. Instagram came to be when I was in the midst of high school, about 8-9 years ago, and it has changed drastically since then. Not in a negative way, but it seems to have shifted and now is largely focused on marketing, but mostly making money.

When the app began, it was just a simple way for a person to post a picture of what they were doing with a caption to give context on the picture. Unlike Twitter, it was just an aesthetically pleasing way of sharing pictures with your "Friends". But now, it seems everyone is trying to become an "influencer", gain thousands of followers in hopes of getting "brand deals" to turn posting pictures into a career to support themselves.

"I Need Attention"
People feed off the number of "likes" their picture get, that's a fact. If one picture gets 20 likes while another gets 50, they'll question what was wrong with the picture that only got 20 "double-taps". Thinking in that way is completely toxic! It influences us to alter and filter the things we post, later on, based on what we think more people will "like". I could be wrong here, but isn't the point of Instagram to post picture about what YOU like to do or things that make YOU happy? Just because selfies get more "likes" are you going to post more of them more frequently to gain that instant satisfaction of 50 likes? What if one day you post a picture with a group of your friends and it gets 120 likes? Are you strictly going to post group selfies now?! Some even go so far as to only post at certain times of the day when research shows people are more are on their phones therefore more chances of getting a "like".

Not everyone follows that mentality. Alot of people are grounded enough to post whatever they want whenever they want. Both men and women are "fixated" on gaining more and more likes. But what if the function of "liking" someone's picture went away? Would you still post pictures as if nothing had changed? Because I don't think you would. Give it a couple months, or weeks even, and either you'll stop using it, or the app will shut down due to low user counts. We thrive off that instant satisfaction. As humans if we put work into something, we want to be rewarded for our accomplishments. That reward comes in many forms like comments, followers, but mostly likes in the case of Instagram. So what do we do? We feast and pray on those notifications until we get a small rush of endorphins when someone likes our picture. We love it when people like our pictures, it makes us happy. But we want more of that feeling, so we cook together a plan to take more, similar, pictures to have a bank of pictures to post later. I'll admit, I'm guilty of this. It's a completely normal feeling to have but we are experiencing it through an unhealthy cycle, subconsciously. We need to realize when it's happening to be more mindful of how we are, in many ways, being manipulated by these companies to make smart choices, about our life's path.

If you don't want to feed into that social manipulation, do what I did, just delete the damn thing from your phone. They act as our crutch in a time of boredom or as a way to waste time waiting for anything. Just because everyone at the doctor's office, or on the subway, is on their phones checking their social media, why must we feel so out of place that we follow that behavior and stick our faces into our screens?

When I started to realized how much I was depending on the app to make me happy by posting pretty picture, I noticed it was subsequently causing me pain and self-doubt going through other people's pictures. I was becoming jealous of their lives. I periodically hated my life. I would open the app to see Youtubers on the beach in Malibu or people I knew in high school at Machu Picchu, doing things in places I've always dreamed of doing! Then I would close the app and "forget" about it, but I would never REALLY forget. On a larger scale the app became a place I would go to escape my life and where I could unrealistically be living in someone else's. In no way is that a healthy environment to put yourself in so I gave it up.


When I actually admitted to myself that this was happening, I deleted the account and the app, and went on to actually live MY life. I started to do whatever it was that I wanted, whenever I wanted without the influence or, ironically, "influencers" flooding my phone. I haven't looked back since.

I don't like being manipulated and I don't enjoy feeling like crap about myself and that is what Instagram was doing to me, so I removed the virus from my life.

Money, Money, Money
Now let me briefly mention another side of Instagram that I do not agree with. In the last 3-4 years, Instagram is feeding off advertisement. I'm, not dumb, I know that's how many companies/websites make money but having regular people posting "brand deals" made the entire concept of posting about things you like, lose it's transparency. I never knew if someone was being honest about enjoying a coffee shop, or if that coffee shop and the "influencer" was benefiting monetarily from the post. I couldn't know if those hair-growth gummies actually worked or if the "influencer" was being paid to say so. The uncertainty of the real results from branded deals made me feel uneasy at the thought of people being used for advertisement. Companies taking the opportunity to brain wash people like me into buying their product because they were endorsed by people I followed, and  trusted never sat right with me.

Don't get me wrong I understand that we all need a make a living doing something, but giving that much power to someone with a laptop and a smartphone can be dangerous. Regular people creating content and making money can be detrimental to our growth in society. Most social media "influencer" don't have an education after high school. All they know is if I post certain types of pictures online and enough people double-tap them, my rent and groceries are paid for the month and I have enough left over for a Gucci shopping spree. We are teaching this next generation the completely wrong thing! Now, obviously not everyone will be influenced by this, but alof of people will and one day, I guarantee, just like Blackberry and Blockbuster, it will crash. When that day comes many people will be left at 29 or 37, jobless and with no high education to prouve to an employer they know what they're talking about. Views won't mean anything and neither will likes so do yourself a favour and stay in school, get a diploma and then work your ass off doing whatever it is you love to do, even if that is posting pictures in front of coffee shops. Just be mindful that nothing lasts forever.

Let me conclude this very typically-long post by saying a couple more things. 

When I started this blog I decided making an Instagram account would be the best way to get more people's eyes to read my opinions on certain topics that I was passionate about. I do use the account, and follow other people, but I'm being smarter about it this time around. I'm treating it as a business and not as a leisure. I am aware of the pit-falls and consequences that can come with using the app but I've made adjustments to avoid ever feeling the way I did, again. I am also not resting the fate of my career on my blog and Instagram page. I'm currently working a 9 to 5 job as an intern at a consulting company for the next couple months, then going back to school to get my Bachelor's Degree in Applied Science and Engineering.

I've learned from my, and other people's, mistakes and I'm spending my days doing the things that I love. I encourage you do make a change in your life that will positively impact your day. And whatever it was you did, do it again tomorrow and the next day, I promise it'll be worth the slight disruption in your daily routine to get closer to ultimate happiness.

If you've read this far please give me some feedback on my Instagram page! I really want to know what you all think about this!


xoxo