More and more frequently we see people with professions such as an Instagram model, or professional blogger. However, five years ago these occupations did not exist. We are projected images on the ‘popular page’ of what we should wear for fall, what our desks should look like, the kind of coffee we should be drinking, what our meals should look like…the list goes on.
As followers, we see only a small portion of celebrity or professionals’ lives, yet we assume that they are always picture-perfect and “Insta-worthy.” This thought drastically affects how we see ourselves and influences what we choose to post on our own accounts. The result is a select few individuals that have proven their expertise through thousands (or millions!) of likes, and therefore dominate and shape the trends on Instagram. Society mimics these trends in hopes of achieving more followers and thus the cycle continues when each new trend is introduced.
It’s unrealistic that we wake up flawless and spend everyday hiking to capture the most scenic photograph then come home to tea in our still-perfect unmade bed with a slightly off-center messy-bun and winged liner that has stayed in tact all day. Our obsession with this idealistic life ultimately just makes us feel bad about ourselves (am I alone here?).
The bikini-ready body and documented juice cleanse phenomenon especially affects college students who strive for the perfect complexion, body, outfit, hair, etc. Each year, college campuses deal with more and more cases of self-harm and body shaming, and I believe the Instagram culture is partly to blame for this.
Once we accept that we are not all the same just by adding a filter or an edit, and that embracing our differences is what makes us interesting, I believe that we will be a happier and safer culture that can use social media for expressing these differences instead of aspiring to be uniform.