What's our life without artsy frame-by-frame pictures that document everything we've ever done? Originally intended as a photo editing app, VSCO now has become an extension of Instagram.
For pictures that "didn't make the cut" or "may not get a slew of likes and comments," VSCO is the perfect alternative. As a self-admitted social media addict, I will be the first to say that I have the link to my VSCO grid in my bio, in case people haven't seen enough of my pictures.
Yet I also peruse other people's VSCO grids and have concluded that, in some ways, VSCO can be more toxic than Instagram.
1. VSCO uses more advanced photo editing.
Life looks even more beautiful than before. The filters and types of possible edits make our photos, and therefore our lives, look even more picturesque. Our VSCO grids suggest that we see the world in even more vibrant colors and every moment looks like a stunning photo opportunity.
However, the more advanced the editing, the less accurate the depiction of reality. Filters are aptly named because they "filter" out the truth; the more filters we apply, the less our picture truly mirrors reality.
2. People post more extensively on VSCO.
VSCO has the pretense of a "less degrading" alternative to Instagram because nobody really likes or comments on pictures. However, ironically, that feature has actually worsened the problem.
Why? We post even more frozen moments of our lives because we are less afraid of the acclaim we'll receive.
Therefore, if we scroll through other people's VSCOs, we actually see more moments of their lives, more parties, more boyfriend pictures, more vacation photos. The streams of pictures infiltrate into our lives and we become more jealous.
3. VSCO is much more public and accessible.
Because we all put our Instagram accounts on private but the links on our public bio. It becomes simple to access pages and pages of just about anybody's grid and the more grids we witness, the more lives we envy, the more boyfriends we yearn to have, the more experiences we wish we had. If we don't follow a private Instagram account, we are safeguarded from this envious resentment. But a link to a VSCO grid is a ticket to see another false social media reality.
4. We think that VSCO is closer to real life.
Everybody is quick to condemn Instagram because it only captures one moment in time. On VSCO there are many frames of a moment. Therefore it must be closer to the truth. It isn't really.
One moment in time, the two moments before it, and the two moments that followed it is not that much more accurate than a single moment. Whether pictures capture one moment or five, in the grand scheme of the experience, it only captures a short amount of time, it only captures what we want other people to see.
We have this false notion that because nobody fears how many likes and comments they receive, VSCO presents more raw and candid pictures. One way or another, we still only post what we want other people to see. And what we want other people to see is still a much more romanticized version of what our reality really is.
