Instagram Bitter

 As an Instagram user who admittedly overuses the app and has been made to feel bitter about the way I and others use it, I thought I would share my thoughts...

On any social media account it is possible to create an image of yourself that is very different to real life, controlling only what you want others to see. Yet, on Facebook and Twitter we generally don't mind moaning about things that annoy or upset us, in essence showing that we have weaknesses and are not super-human.

Instagram is different because a picture is more powerful. A person's Instagram account - not solely but for the most part - shows only the good thing that happen to them: the good hair days, the holidays at the pool-side, the couple pictures and the happy surprises. We don't upload the pictures of the rainy days, tear-stained selfies, the text arguments or the things that have gone wrong. We upload at least the medioka but primarily the good and very good. It's too easy to become absorbed in the Instagram feed, niggling thoughts wishing you were 'that person' with 'their lifestyle', 'their fashion sense' and 'their social life' craving what looks to be an easier, happier and richer life. A life that isn't real. It's about show-casing your life in the best possible light, editing it right down to create the best possible image of yourself, an attempt to control how people see and think of you. It shouldn't be forgotten that the overall person portrayed by the app is only their life from one angle, fine-tuned, like a selfie with a filter. There's no denying that some people have it better and easier than others but no one's life is as flawless or as blemish-free as their account boasts.

Instagram to an extent is also competitive, why else would you post a photo (that you spent too much time perfectly arranging) of your Christmas presents other than to show off? It becomes a game of 'look I have it better than you' which is boring, annoying and thoroughly self-centred.

Don't get me wrong, I do still like the app. I love seeing what other people have been getting up to and getting inspiration from it but I think that spending too much time spent scrolling through fashion and travel accounts definitely gives you 'urgh' jealousy feels. Furthermore, it's as much of an unproductive use of time as the next social network and despite being the one admitting to using it too often, I think that it would be much better to be out truly making something of life (without wondering how it's going to look like on a screen later) than envying what everyone else is up to.

Carpe Diem.

Seize the day, live for the moment.