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Student B
Ms. Garcia
English 102
20 April 2014
#Instagram
#Selfie, #womancrushwednesday, #mancrushmonday, #follow, #cute, #me… these are
just a few of some of the most common hashtags used on Instagram (Honigman). If you have an
Instagram, you know exactly what I’m talking about. And even if you don’t have an Instagram,
I’m willing to bet that you have still heard someone somewhere talking about it. Instagram seems
to currently be all the rage in not only America, but also in other countries. Hashtags are in and if
you post an “insta” pic you better have at least one trending hashtag to make sure you get a lot of
likes… This is what has become of our culture. We are being flooded with selfies from everyone
everywhere, we are repeatedly seeing trends like womancrushwednesday sweep the country, and
we are constantly concerned with everything Instagram. How is this ‘insta phenomena’ affecting
our culture?
Instagram has only been around for about four years. Kevin Systrom founded it in
October 2010. Within just the first year, Instagram already had over 7 million users (Van Grove).
Even I joined the crowd and made my own Instagram account, and I will admit I use it quite
regularly. It’s so easy to use and it’s very entertaining to scroll through your feed and look at
everyone else’s pictures and see what’s going on in their lives. It’s also fun and gives you a sense
of importance to post pictures and see who likes them and comments on them.
Instagram is a very unique kind of communication. I believe this is what has made it so
successful in the scope of social media. It’s very different from Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter
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(some of the most popular social media sites). Instagram allows you to only share pictures. You
can share pictures via other social media, but Instagram is the only one that is specifically for
photos only. You communicate with your followers with pictures and the captions or hashtags
you use to describe your pictures. Then after you post a photo, any registered user can see it
(unless you specifically set your account up as private) and like it if they wish or comment a
clever or trending hashtag.
If you look again at some of the most common Instagram hashtags like “selfie” and “me,”
you might notice that these both revolve around self. Psychiatrist Carole Lieberman of California
said that the “rise of the selfie is a perfect metaphor for our increasingly narcissistic culture”
(Italie). When you post a picture that you’ve clearly taken yourself and then comment things like
selfie and me, the spotlight turns to you and it’s as if you are just screaming for attention and
validation from others. While not everyone may be labeled a narcissist, everyone, at some point
or another, struggles with selfishness and focusing on themselves only (Clinton). Our culture,
especially the young adult and teen generation, is being drowned in the idea that you have to post
Instagram selfies for attention. The word ‘selfie’ has even been added to some dictionaries and
may eventually be added to the Oxford dictionary (Italie). Also, there is a new hit song by the
Chainsmokers titled “#selfie” and includes the words “But first, let me take a selfie.” The idea of
posting pictures of yourself and drawing this attention has gone out of control. I don’t believe it’s
wrong to take selfies and then post them, but the issue arises when too much attention gets to
someone’s head and they step into the narcissistic boundary.
People desperately want to be noticed and want to be seen. Why else would Instagram
become so popular? Why else would people post pictures with hashtags like “followme” “like”
“selfie” “me” and etc. Instagram and other social media sites are an easy escape for people to
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finally be noticed. However, this need to be noticed online and on Instagram has had an effect on
real communication and relationships. It seems that for some people, having lots of followers on
Instagram takes the place of real friendships. As social media becomes more popular worldwide,
connecting and communicating with people face to face has become less important and the way
people view themselves and portray themselves has drastically changed.
Every Instagram user portrays them self in a specific way. Maybe you’re unaware of it,
but everything you post says something about who you are. If you post selfies on the regular, you
may be the “Serial Selfie Killer” (Wregget). If you’re that person that is always posting pictures
of all their adventures and journeys they encounter, your friends might consider you the “World
Traveler” (Wregget). Are you always posting inspirational quotes and sayings? Maybe then
you’re the “Wannabe Gandhi” (Wregget). Whatever it is, make sure it’s actually portraying what
you want people to see.
Even the idea of posting pictures to make ourselves appear a specific way says something
about our culture. We place so much value on other people’s opinions of ourselves that it doesn’t
seem to matter anymore if what we post is actually an accurate representation. So maybe I want
my friends to think I’m high quality model material? Then I might edit my selfie and try out
every single filter until I find the most flattering one. At this point, I’ve in a sense become
obsessed with other people’s opinion of me and as a result I may become unsure of who I am and
lose my self-confidence. Not that it’s necessarily wrong to edit a picture the way you want it to
look, but it just goes to show how much we care about how we appear to other people. Although
we all have a natural desire to share about ourselves with others and that’s not at all wrong
either, our culture is beginning to push this idea to the limits and teach that it doesn’t really
matter if we truthfully portray who we actually are online (Clinton).
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As is true with other forms of social media, it’s also true of Instagram that norms of
communication and respectable etiquette seem to change and even disappear in the ‘insta cyber
world.’ If you’re constantly talking about yourself in person, people are definitely going to notice
and think you’re self-absorbed, but if you do the same thing by posting pictures of yourself, it
doesn’t seem to matter anymore. Or maybe it does bother some people, but it has become so
normal that we just ignore it.
When people post pictures on Instagram, it’s very common for them to disregard any
social standards (Martin). I’m not just talking about posting rude comments or bullying; there is
other social etiquette that people abuse. From scrolling through my own Instagram, I see this
kind of thing all the time. Just recently, a couple junior boys posted pictures of one of their
friends and left in the comments things like “going to miss him so much,” “rip,” “gone forever,”
and more. I saw these, and was immediately concerned thinking that the guy had died. It turns
out, he was very much alive and all the pictures were just a joke. Pranking people into believing
that one of their friends is dead, is not appropriate social behavior in any form. But as I see more
and more posts like this on a regular basis, it seems that our culture is accepting new norms of
social etiquette online.
Of course not very Instagram post contains an inappropriate form of social behavior. Like
a pencil is a useful tool when used to write a paper but a harmful tool when used to poke your
classmate, Instagram can also be both useful and harmful depending on how it is used. I’ve
already described some ways in which it has negatively affected our culture, but it isn’t all bad.
One benefit from Instagram is that it supports gaining awareness of the world around us (Myers).
There are many different accounts and pages on Instagram from all over the world. Simply
clicking the “Explore” tab allows a person to learn about many different places, events, people,
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and other things. By allowing users to explore all different kinds of information, it is helping our
culture maintain the desire to learn and be curious. Another beneficial aspect of Instagram is that
it encourages creative thinking skills in picture taking and sharing your creative ideas with
others. It may not seem huge, but creative thinking is one of the “six pillars of communication”
that is necessary for successful communication (Myers).
Instagram is also beneficial by connecting you with other people. One extremely huge
aspect of life is building relationships and connecting with people, and Instagram can help with
this. It’s very easy to search someone on Instagram, follow them, and then you’re instantly
connected to see some of the things that are going on in their life. But again, if you get so caught
up with Instagram, it may take away from connecting with people face to face.
Our culture is on a technological incline. Every single day, new technology is invented
and it all changes our culture in one way or another. Social media in general has had a huge
impact on our culture. Not only has Instagram affected our culture in the ways we communicate
and connect, how we portray ourselves, and the way we feel about ourselves, but it has also had
an impact on advertising and even research.
One example of this is in businesses. Both small and large businesses use Instagram
accounts as a promotion opportunity (Christen). They post pictures advertising sales or special
events. Businesses also post coupon codes or discounts. They can even post products and new
deals. All of this can be done completely free of charge. The ways in which managers and
owners can use Instagram for their businesses could be endless.
So how has Instagram affected researching in our culture? One big way it has done this is
by advertising colleges. Many different universities and colleges have created Instagram pages to
post pictures of their campuses, special events, student life, and other information (Mamlet). I
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have personally used Instagram to search for different colleges and get some more information
about them. It really is a very convenient way for prospective students to do a little more
research to help them make one of the biggest decisions of their lives. Also vice versus, some
college admissions will search through an applicant’s Instagram account or other social media
accounts to get a better feel of who the student is (Mamlet).
Marc Rinosa, a writer for the Huffington Post, blogged about ways in which Instagram
has changed teen culture. One of his main points was that Instagram provides easy access to an
abundance of information (Rinosa). Not only can teens research information about colleges or
businesses, but they can learn about people. They can research different hashtags and learn about
basically anything from #food, to #rugby, to the #president. This doesn’t mean that all the
information you could learn on Instagram is true, but it is a great way to spark curiosity and set
some fascinating ideas in someone’s mind.
Instagram is still fairly new, it’s still very popular, and it’s still influencing our culture in
both positive and negative ways. We can be creative, we can share our life memories, we can
connect with friends, we can learn about the ‘Tomatillo Festival’ in Mexico, we can find out
about events happening all around the world, we can get discounts for certain businesses and we
can do so much more. But, there is always a ‘but’ when it comes to social media. It is so
important that you aren’t getting carried away with Instagram. Remember that it isn’t an
“etiquette-free zone” and there are still social guidelines you should follow (Martin 7).
Remember that our culture can’t pull away from actual face to face interaction just because
interacting over Instagram may seem easier. Understand that just because you have an Instagram
account, doesn’t mean you need to brag and post about yourself all the time. Know that not
everything you read or see on Instagram is true. Most importantly, remember that there’s a world
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outside of Instagram and social media. So maybe instead of obsessing over how many people
like your latest #selfie, or how many times someone has made you their #womancrushwednesday
or #mancrushmonday, get off your phone and go connect with the real world.
Works Cited
Christen, Carol, and Richard N. Bolles. What Color Is Your Parachute? For Teens:
Discovering Yourself, Defining Your Future. 5th ed. New York: Ten Speed Press, 2006.
Print.
Clinton, Dr.Tim, and Dr. Gary Sibcy. Why You Do The Things You Do: The Secret to
Healthy Relationships. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2006. Print.
Honigman, Brian. “The 100 Most Popular Hashtags on Instagram.” Huff Post Tech. Huffington
Post, 15 January 2013. Web. 15 April 2014.
Italie, Leanne. “What Did Narcissus Say to Instagram? Selfie time!” The Big Story. Associated
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Press, 25 June 2013. Web. 15 April 2014.
Mamlet, Robin, and Christine Vandevelde. College Admission: From Application to
Acceptance, Step by Step. New York: Three Rivers Press, 2011. Print.
Martin, Judith. Miss Manner’s Basic Training Communication. New York: Crown
Publishers, 1997. Print.
Myers, Jeffrey. From Playpen to Podium: How to Develop the Communication Skills They
Need to Succeed. Vancouver: Noble Publishing, 1997. Print.
Rinosa, Marc. “4 Ways Instagram has Redefined Teen Culture.” Huffington Post. Huffington
Post, 26 January 2013. Web. 25 March 2014.
Van Grove, Jennifer. “Snapshot of Success: Instagram’s Kevin Systrom Shares His Startup
Secrets.” Mashable. Complex Media, 4 August 2011. Web. 15 April 2014.
Wregget, Courtney. “What Your Instagram Says About You.” Elite Daily. Elite Daily, 7
February 2014. Web. 17 April 2014.