When was the last time you went somewhere beautiful, hung out with one of your friends, or ate a beautiful meal without taking a picture of it? Was the purpose of taking picture to post on Instagram later?
It has been brought to my attention recently how much the photo-sharing app, Instagram, has been taking over our lives. We spend hours trying to post the perfect Instagram-worthy picture, and for what reason, to make our followers jealous of the life we are trying to portray? These 13 things show how Instagram is taking over our lives.
1. Having to take multiple series of photos get the perfect "Insta-worthy" picture.
2 . Choosing the perfect filter with several photo-editing apps.
Instagram’s filters just do not cut it anymore. There are hundreds of editing apps to try and achieve the perfect filter for our Instagram photos. We just have to make sure we do not go overboard on the editing.
3. Googling and asking several friends for the appropriate caption.
One of the most stressful parts is creating a caption that summarizes the picture. Our head swirls with ideas of captions that are either too corny, or looks like we are trying too hard. We are conflicted and confused on what to caption our pictures, so we Google and ask our friends for some guidance.
4. Posting a picture at the wrong “Instagram time.”
God forbid we post a picture at 8 a.m. and only get 20 likes in five minutes. We stress over trying to find the perfect time to get the most exposure for our pictures. We all know that the perfect time to post a picture is at dinner time and right before bed, duh.
5. Having to repost a picture if it didn't get enough likes.
\The dreadful delete and repost. We have all done it. We delete a picture and repost it at a better time to get more likes. But hey, we gotta do, what we gotta do.
6. Not posting more than one picture in a day.
We all follow a non-spoken rule of Instagram by not posting more than one picture in a day. If you have taken more than one "insta-worthy" picture, too bad. You have to wait until Throwback Thursday to post another picture.
7. Double-guessing everything you post because it may not fit your overall “aesthetic.”
If you post a picture that does not fit with your overall theme of our profiles, we feel like our whole Instagram is ruined. For some reason, an Instagram profile looks better if all the pictures have the same filter. We are out of luck if we take a picture that doesn't fit our "theme."
8. The stress of having a perfect follower ratio.
The perfect ratio gives off the illusion that you are so popular, that you have more people that follow you than you follow. If you follow more people, then you do not have the perfect ratio.
9. Feeling extreme envy while going through your feed.
Our little green monster that comes out when we see how perfect people's profiles are. I mean, their life seems flawless, no wonder why we are jealous. Who takes their model pictures? Why do they look beautiful all the time? Why do they eat such pretty things? How do they go to beautiful places? How can I be them?
10. Accidentally double-tapping while creeping.
We have all done it. Creeping on our best friend’s sorority sister’s boyfriend’s cousin’s frat bother and accidentally liking their picture from 43 weeks ago. I swear, I can feel my heart drop to the pit of my stomach.
11. Forgetting to enjoy whatever we are photographing.
We spend so much time taking pictures, that we forget to look up from our screens and apprehend the people, places, or things we are trying to document. We are missing out on the moment, because we feel like we need to document every aspect to show our followers our “amazing” life.
12. Not hitting your “like” goal
13. Remembering that we are awesome, despite our Instagram.
Remember that you are amazing and beautiful, despite what your social media followers think. We have to remind yourself that our self-worth is not defined by Instagram likes. Let’s say it together: "Our self-worth is not defined by Instagram likes."
