Last week I was scrolling through Instagram and came across a story a friend had posted about something Kanye had written. Most of the time I would've just kept scrolling and completely ignored what he said (unpopular opinion: not a huge Kanye fan, sorry!!!) but this one caught my eye.
As you can see, he feels really strongly about the topic that likes and followers should not be shown on social media because of the judgment they hold. At first, I thought he was being kind of dramatic about it, but the more I thought about it the more I started to agree. Maybe not to the extent of committing suicide, but they do hold this unnecessary power in society that most people don't even recognize.
Instagram began as a platform to post photos of your liking strictly because you liked them. It was a way of visual storytelling to connect all people whether it be celebrities, newsrooms, teenagers, and everyone with a 'creative passion' according to Instagram's mission statement. I don't think this is the case anymore.
People have become obsessed with your 'likes to followers' ratio or how many followers you have declares your social status. Instagram went from a genius creative outlet to a platform obsessed with 'the perfect person' and how many comments your photos receive.
How does all of this connect to VSCO???
VSCO is an app I discovered my first year of college and wished I'd used it sooner. It's an app designed 'for creators, by creators'. They're a photo company whose mission is to equip, inspire, and educate anyone on the journey towards realizing their creative potential. They use creative tools to drive a community based off of self-expression.
The app isn't about how perfect the face is, or how perfect the picture even is. There's no pressure for likes or publishes, but instead provides a platform strictly to post photos or quotes that you love and provides the opportunity to be surrounded by other's who post photos or quotes they love.
It's a space strictly for creativity and the appreciation of it whether that be through your own basic photography or through your admiration of others. It's a pressure-free outlet, unlike Instagram where subconsciously everyone is worried about how many likes their photo might receive when in all reality it doesn't really matter.
I've seen beautiful photographs with barely any likes or comments, but then a basic selfie of a pretty girl could have thousands. It's become an app of status instead of creativity and has lost its original mission statement.
Our generation places too much pressure to be the perfect person and have a perfect life and it's taking over all of our social creative platforms. With new apps like VSCO, we can reclaim the innocence of pure artistry and stop obsessing over what we don't have and begin to appreciate what we do.
