It is no secret that I’m addicted to social media. I probably spend hours every day scrolling through Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, and VSCO. Even when I don’t realize what I’m doing on my phone, I’m probably on social media.
By the time I finally made a Facebook, it had already abandoned the chronological order. But recently it has diverged farther from chronological order and promotes certain posts with its algorithm. While I find this to be annoying, it was just the way Facebook was to me.
But Instagram was always in chronological order, which makes it easy to scroll through. When checking your feed, you started at the most recent and went all the way down to the last post you saw. You can’t miss posts this way and gives everyone an equal chance at being liked.
Now, Instagram has added ads and suggested accounts. This has completely changed the app because certain accounts are promoted while others aren’t. I have accidentally missed a friend’s post because Instagram didn’t promote it. While this sounds like a minor problem, it actually affects how the app is used. I find it less appealing when I’m seeing celebrities’ posts more easily than my best friends’.
And now we get to Snapchat. What was once a dear and a beloved app has now become a nightmare to use. I am constantly opening Snapchat now to be reminded that it is too confusing and unattractive to use, and immediately close the app instead of using it.
This is a real shame because Snapchat memories were my favorite part of the app. I saved every funny snap and story I sent since I left for college. Yes, I could keep all my memories in my Photos. But they are amid screenshots of notes and the 100 attempts to take the perfect Instagram. Snapchat memories were a real hit for me, and I hope the change in the app will not deter me from using the Memories.
So now we are left with the one social media I have that leaves photos in chronological order: VSCO. VSCO has been one of my favorite apps since I started using it in 2015. It is a place for me to put all my favorite photos and edit them slightly more professionally than Instagram.
I don’t get very professional when editing photos, but the VSCO app makes its users feel important. With the recent addition of helpful tips for photography, I have found myself taking different perspectives in photography.
The best part of VSCO is that it is not for fame, it’s for its users. Instead of aiming to receive a certain amount of likes or followers, VSCO has become a platform for people to share many photos and promote photos they like or find relatable. There is no competition on this platform, and it has always existed for its creators. Where Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat have tried to become more user-friendly, they eventually got too ambitious with an update and the users are mad. However, VSCO has always been a place for its creators to post as they wish and become more skilled at photography.
