Instagram Envy: Do you feel pressurized by what you see on the ‘gram?
Oluwatomike Bali
Staff Writer
Social media is gradually becoming one of the most powerful tools in the world today. It has slowly replaced social activities as most people prefer to live the reality on social media apps than the reality we are faced with in the real word. It is no longer new to be at a social gathering where 80 percent of the guests are hooked up to their phones, totally defeating the point of the gathering.
In recent times, Instagram envy has been one notable cons of social media. Instagram is a photo sharing app that allows users to create a magazine-like layout of their lives. The layout presents people with opportunities to compare themselves with others.
It is almost inevitable, as your feed is filled with pictures of your high school classmates, childhood neighbors, or even random people, and their pictures depict a fun, living-the-life lifestyle. The intimidating thoughts slowly creep in on those who barely have their life figured out.
Many social media users pointed out that they are forced to keep up with the lifestyle that many photos and profiles depict.
As a frequent user of the app, I have a list of things that helps me overcome the Instagram envy bug. I try not to compare my life with anything I see because no one know how that person’s life is behind those pictures. Knowing that pictures hide our true pain, it has become very easy for me not to get carried away.
I believe everything posted on Instagram is overly edited and portrayed more than what it is because of the need to keep up with a certain lifestyle. Numerous people consciously get their pictures taken with the need to impress others, and overly edit the pictures so they look appeasing to others.
Furthermore, we don’t have the same reality. We all have different problems, and so our lifestyle cannot be the same.
Therefore, I unfollow pages that makes me feel pressurized and unsatisfied with my lifestyle. It is okay to customize your feed where you get to see content that feeds your mind, content you can relate to. So, if one feels pressurized by what they see it is okay to unfollow others.
I also limit my time on the app and try to put more time in developing myself.
I do not get carried away by the number of likes. The like option is like a social currency. Many people care about the number of likes their photos get, and I think that constructs a type of envy when your friends have more likes on their photos than you do.
It is okay to want to look good and create an artistic feed, but when you feel the need to spend a lot of time adjusting your pictures before posting them just to live up to the hype, then that becomes a problem.
Instagram is a social media app. It is meant to be fun, and as such, it should not be used as a yardstick to measure life goals or standards, because behind every picture is a thousand untold stories.
Feature photo courtesy of Flickr.