2015 and 2016 have seen the rise of a new type of celebrity: the Instagram Model, an everyday girl who gains mass amounts of followers by posting flawless selfies and showing off her exciting lifestyle. Instagram modeling has made fame accessible to anyone with an iPhone and a lot of dedication to selfie-taking. While this may be a good thing, allowing everyday people with everyday incomes the opportunity to get a taste of the limelight, it has also drawn attention away from those who do more for the world than just share pictures of their faces.
Let’s stop sensationalizing “pretty.”
I would be a hypocrite if I didn’t admit that I follow my share of famous Instagrammers: Kendall Jenner, Alexis Ren and Scarlett Leithold to name a few. Their accounts drew me in, not for their photography or for what they stand for as humans, but simply because they’re pretty. I scroll through their feeds, look at their selfies and think to myself: Wow, I wish I looked like her. I scroll and scroll and find my own flaws in their perfection, but I can’t stop looking. It’s kind of like when you see something that hurts, maybe a picture of your ex with his new girlfriend or a subtweet that you know is about you, it hurts to look at but you just can’t seem to look away.
Social media platforms like Instagram are no longer a means of connecting. Instead, they are a means of showing off, presenting false identities and abusing the freedom of self-expression for likes. On Instagram, the line between backstage and frontstage behavior blurs, allowing users to essentially abandon their real lives and create something worthy of thousands of views. This also causes skewed perceptions of the quality of others’ lives. Personally, I follow many accounts documenting what seem to be the exciting, glamorous lives of regular people around the globe, and I often find myself thinking, why isn’t my life like that? Am I missing out? It’s a difficult task to sit back and readjust your mindset, to remind yourself that people don’t post the bad parts of life on Instagram. Everything is staged, airbrushed and filtered to look as appealing as possible. Instagram is not, nor will it ever be, real life.
Along with the idea that Instagram presents a false sense of identity, the sensationalization of Instagram models has also turned the spotlight away from more influential young men and women. Amazing women, such as Malala Yousafzai, who has dedicated her life to making education more viable for girls in third world countries, are being outshined by the likes of Kylie Jenner, who has dedicated her life to buying fancy cars and dating rappers that are way too old for her. (Tyga, I’m talking to you.) Sadly, the Nobel Peace Prize that Malala so deservingly received will never get the same recongnition next to the 51.3 million Instagram followers Jenner has obtained.
When we waste our attention on people who make little positive contributions to society, the real problems of the world fade to the background. We begin to believe that things like looks and money are more important than values and philanthropy. Even our perception of ourselves becomes distorted, as we scroll and scroll and wonder why our lives aren’t as pretty as the pictures we like.
We need to stop sensationalizing pretty, before it becomes all that we care about, before we tear down any more young women who don’t feel complete until they get fifty likes, a hundred likes, or more. Instead, let’s celebrate the people that matter, the movers and shakers of the world. Let’s celebrate those who stand for something, who want something better for this world. Close out of your Instagram and open your eyes to the multitudes of good, humble people on this planet. Acknowledge them. Be one of them. And don’t forget to celebrate yourself, too. Celebrate your flaws, the unfiltered and unedited parts of you that make you beautifully real. Celebrate what you love about yourself, be proud of who you are and stop comparing your life to the unrealistic images we are bombarded with every day.
Let’s stop sensationalizing pretty, and start sensationalizing values, charity and humility.
