“XX Pro or Valencia? I wanna look tan.” Perfectly epitomized in The Chainsmokers’ “#SELFIE,” the Instagram app has developed a prolific pop culture presence.
Admittedly, the social media staple lends itself to some insanely creative posts. On the other side of the originality spectrum, however, land the filtered visual cliches found with every refresh of your feed. You know, last night’s sushi splurge in Lo-Fi, a sleeping dog in Amaro, and some changing leaves in Earlybird. A perfect mid-air picture of friends jumping, limbs by a pool cleverly captioned “hot dogs or legs,” someone #tbt-ing to last week. An “unfiltered” selfie of a girl who “woke up like this” and a panorama of the skyline.
After painstaking research and thorough analysis (read: spending far too much lurking on people’s profiles), I chose, completely objectively, the top twenty-four Instagram cliches. Next time you convince yourself you’ve earned a break from writing that paper or arrive awkwardly early for your lunch date, try your hand at Instagram Bingo. Whether you win or not, at least you’ll have succeeded in wasting time.