You're watching someone who's sitting across the room from you on their phone. Their thumb scrolls upward and pauses or double taps the screen every few seconds. They're obviously on Instagram, right? What else could they be so interested in?
Created in 2010, Instagram gained its popularity two years later. Today, a lot of parents and even some grandparents use the application. However, people of the college age use Instagram as another form of social networking. It's used to show how much fun they're having, something new that happened to them or someone new.
But what does posting an Instagram picture with a significant other really mean to us 18- to 22-year-olds? Well, it's a definition.
The difference between "Facebook official" and an Instagram picture is that there is so much more involved with a photo. The phrase "a picture is worth a thousand words" applies in this situation. Whether you're trying to get revenge on an ex, just finished a first date or are posing with the love of your life, the whole entire world (AKA your followers) can now view it.
It's true. An Instagram picture can genuinely be a celebration of how perfect you are with someone, which is great. Kudos to the happy couple. But come on, I don't want to see pictures of you with your tongues down each others' throats. I'd rather stalk pictures of Victoria's Secret models and eat a pint of mint-chocolate chip ice cream.
Social media has become a way for young adults to exaggerate their lives, specifically their love lives. Your girlfriend NEEDS a picture of you two kissing at formal because that's what her best friend did last weekend, and she cannot be left out. Your boyfriend really wants to take a picture with you tonight so he can show you off to all his fraternity brothers because you look fantastic.
Let's be honest, if you're in a relationship and your boyfriend or girlfriend doesn't want to post a picture with you on Instagram ... what else is he or she hiding? And that's exactly what this generation has come to. A Snapchat best friend is not just what it seems on the surface. You're taking the time and effort to respond. The person you direct message on Twitter at three in the morning clearly means something to you.
Trust in a relationship is strained. And these social "norms" are replacing phone calls, real dates and more intimate forms of communication.
In our parents' days, the boy would either call or he wouldn't, and that was that. There's so many different applications on social media today, you don't know what to check. To quote He's Just Not That Into You, "It's exhausting."
However in 2015, couples can profess their undying love via a posed, edited, filtered and artfully captioned photo on an application with over 300 million users.
Remember when it was cool to update your relationship status on Facebook every two weeks? Or be "engaged" to your best friend? Times have changed and now you're obligated to get that picture-perfect moment captured in time with your boyfriend or girlfriend.
As far as my experience goes, this isn't what college should be about. You should go out with your friends or significant other and not worry about proving to the rest of the world how awesome your night was. Make it so incredibly awesome that you didn't have time for a picture. You didn't have time to take the same photo five thousand times so your hair looks the way you want it to. That's what I want this next three years: Nights with my best friends, meeting new people and laughing so hard that we don't know whether it's 11 p.m. or 3 a.m.
An Instagram picture together is a formalization of your relationship with someone, but you have to actually be that happy deeper than the surface.
