No One Cares About Your Instagram Feed

No One Cares About Your Instagram Feed

All the pressure you put on yourself to have the "perfect feed" is a complete waste of energy.

Bryson Keel
Bryson Keel Feb 1, 2019
544
views

Instagram has been around for many years now. It seems like, with time, it has gotten more and more serious. People, including myself, tend to care way too much about what other people think of their accounts.

We all do it. We stress over getting the perfect picture to make our lives look as entertaining as possible on social media. We will take hundreds of pictures until we get the one that we feel is worthy enough to post. After we finally find the picture, we have to use secondary apps to whiten our teeth, smooth our acne, and some people even edit their bodies. But, why? What is the point of posting these pictures if they don't even end up looking like us?

After we finally get our pictures how we like them, we have to somehow figure out a caption. We wonder if people think what we say is dumb, unoriginal or lame. But finally, the time has come. The picture is as good as it is getting and we are ready to upload. This is where the real stress begins. We can't help but notice who likes the picture, how many people are liking the picture, how many people are commenting on the picture, etc.

All of this stress is absolutely insane. Just because a picture isn't the type that would typically get a lot of attention on your feed, doesn't mean you shouldn't post it. Post whatever you want. I hate to break it to you, but no one cares about your Instagram feed. Once your picture is off of the daily timeline, your followers will most likely never think about it again. The only reason we are brainwashed into thinking people go on our pages so much is because we go on our own pages so much. Half of the time that I spend on Instagram, is spent on my own page. I'm always wanting to make sure that everything looks exactly how I want it to. It is hard for me to wrap my mind around the fact that other people couldn't care any less about how put together my feed looks.

Instagram has somehow turned into a place full of stress, judgment and insecurities. I want to go back to the days of posting screenshots of funny memes and casual pictures with my friends. Let's make Instagram casual again.

Bryson Keel
Bryson Keel Feb 1, 2019
At University of Florida

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ASU Students Push For A Healthier Dining Hall To Counter 'Freshman 15' Fears

The freshman 15 is an avoidable curse, but many students will continue to follow into its trap.

Lauren Hernandez
Lauren Hernandez Nov 15, 2018
4404
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Arizona State University students are pushing for change within the downtown Phoenix dining hall as they strive to avoid the infamous freshman 15.

The downtown Phoenix campus offers fewer dining options than the Tempe campus and has a less appetizing dining hall. The freshman 15 is a common scare among students living in the dorms, who are often freshman.

The freshman 15 is defined as a student who gains 15 pounds or more in their first year of college. Studies prove the average freshman does not exercise the right amount, is sleep deprived, has a poor diet, increases their stress level, alcohol consumption, and fatty food intake, which is most likely causing their weight gain.

Lauren Hernandez

Daniella Rudoy, a journalism major and fitness instructor at the SDFC, relived her freshman year as she provided tips for incoming freshman.

"There are a lot of workouts you can do in your dorm room as long as you have access to YouTube or a floor. You can go on a run, a walk, or do exercises that do not require equipment," Rudoy said in support of college fitness.

Rudoy said that mental health, fitness, and nutrition all correlate with one another.

"I follow the saying abs are made in the kitchen. So if you are working out day and night, but eating a giant pizza and chicken wings with a pack of beer when you come home you aren't doing yourself much good," Rudoy said.

Lauren Hernandez

The main cause for weight gain is increased alcohol consumption. 80 percent of college students drink and this includes binge-drinking, which is unhealthy for many reasons.

Students who do not drink are most likely gaining weight because of their exposure to an all-you-can-eat dining hall. The downtown Phoenix campus offers a salad bar as their only consistent healthy option for students, therefore students are left eating hamburgers, fries, and pizza.

"I haven't been to the dining hall this semester. Last semester, I went because I had no other options. I am a vegetarian and the dining hall is not accommodating to those with allergies or food restrictions. I find it very difficult to find vegetarian options," Lexi Varrato, a journalism major said.

Lauren Hernandez

Varrato explained that she believes the freshman 15 is "100% real" and that incoming freshmen should research their meal plans and ask their school how their dietary restrictions will be accommodated before purchasing a non-refundable meal plan.

Megan Tretter, a nursing major at Seattle University emphasized that not every dining hall is like ASU's and that the freshman 15 is "definitely not a problem" at her school.

"I always eat healthy at my dining hall. There are a lot of good and healthy options at Seattle University. I usually go to the smoothie line in the morning, have a salad for lunch, and make myself an acai bowl after work with avocado toast in our floor's kitchen," Tretter said in support of her school's strive for healthy options.

College students across the United States have healthier dining options than ASU, but many colleges still face the same problems that students here are facing.

Tara Shultz, a journalism major at ASU believes she has avoided the "very real" freshman 15 by living at home.

"I believe the freshman 15 targets dorm residence and first-year students who do not live at home as they do not have their parents as a guide and are forced to eat at a dining hall that only serves fatty foods," Shultz emphasized.

Lauren Hernandez

The downtown Phoenix campus offers students access to the SDFC, YMCA, and Taylor Place gym, where students can take group fitness classes, run on a track, play basketball, or swim. Alternative options for students are purchasing a membership at Orangetheory or EOS Fitness.

Most students agreed with journalism major Vanessa Gonzalez that they have little time to work out due to their workload, but many students like Varrato, Tretter, and Rudoy explained that they try to work out every day as it is a stress reliever and it enriches their mental health.

Steve Fiorentino, the owner of Powered Up Nutrition encourages college students to learn what they are putting in their bodies.

"I think it starts with nutrition. Students believe they can outwork a bad diet and I believe that is their number one mistake. My advice is to stop eating fast foods and start eating whole and healthy foods along with supplements," Fiorentino stated.

The freshman 15 is an avoidable curse, but many students will continue to follow into its trap. The campus dining hall is not always the reason to blame as students have the option to decrease their meal plans, become active, and make healthy choices!

Lauren Hernandez
Lauren Hernandez Nov 15, 2018
At Arizona State University

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I Limited My Social Media Usage And I Challenge You To, Too

My worth is not defined by the amount of likes I get.

Lynnsey Kwaak
Lynnsey Kwaak Apr 24, 2019
100
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Every morning at 8 a.m., my alarm goes off, I roll over, and the first thing I do is check my Snapchat only to open a bunch of pictures of the top of someone's head, or the wall, or — my favorite — a black screen. This is something we're all guilty of, myself included. We all know that social media is becoming an addiction amongst us, so why do we still use them in an unhealthy way? Why are our friendships defined by who has the longest streak? Why are our perceptions of others based on the most perfectly posed presentations of people? Why is our self-worth dependent on the number of double taps or shares or comments?

My world used to revolve around social media.

Every time I posted a picture on Instagram, I would constantly refresh to see how many likes I had accumulated. The worst part about that is I would get upset if I didn't get any likes in the seconds between each refresh.

If I got bored or had some downtime between classes, I would spend hours just scrolling through the same posts, hoping to find something different.

So much of my life was wrapped up in the superficiality of social media posts to the point where I no longer knew who I was. I would see pictures of my friends who ended up at the same college and feel left out, I would see girls from high school joining sororities, I would see people looking so stunning and having so much fun, and I let that be the thing that influenced how I felt.

Social media consumed me. It made me forget all the wonderful things I have in my life. It made me value a photo opportunity more than just enjoying the moment for what it is. Let me tell you that a moment is no less valuable just because it isn't visually appealing.

I've recently started using the Screen Time feature on my iPhone. I set a two hour per day limit on my social media usage, and when that time is up, I can no longer open the apps. Since then, I've been spending more time face-to-face with the people I care about. I've reconnected with old hobbies. I feel less stressed. I stopped comparing myself to others. I learned to be happy with myself.

I limit my social media usage because all the time I've spent aimlessly scrolling through Instagram is time I could've spent going for a walk and enjoying the warmth of Spring.

I limit my social media usage because I value face-to-face interaction. I value hugs and laughter and all the other things you can't get from a screen.

I limit my social media usage because it hurts my feelings when other people are on their phones when I'm trying to talk to them so how can it be right that I do that to someone else?

I think about how dependent on social media we have become, and it makes me so grateful that the sun is too bright to see our phone screens outside and that the mountains raise too high to have good cell service. I'm grateful that my friends make me laugh so hard that I don't even think to check my phone.

So, I challenge you to separate yourself from your social media. Even if it's just for a day. See how your life changes.

Lynnsey Kwaak
Lynnsey Kwaak Apr 24, 2019
At James Madison

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