Instagram and the Dangers of Deception
by Lucy Dabney
Over the past decade, the rise of social media has dominated our society, serving as a stronghold over every facet of our daily lives. Under this ever broadening spotlight of popularity is the crowd-favorite, photo-perfecting application, Instagram. While described by its founders as “a fun and quirky way to share your life with friends through a series of pictures” (instagram.com), Instagram’s virtual skyrocket to success has modified its purpose and led to unintended side effects for many users. Instagram has transformed into a social media tool for the sole purpose of idolizing partial truths and perfection in our lives. For my final project, I chose to examine this phenomenon through in-depth research on the dangers and negative aspects of Instagram and forms of social media when used by a culture as a basis for instilling one’s identity and image.
I began my research by focusing on the rise of the Instagram nation through studying the history of this application. According to its website, Instagram was founded in 2010 as a means to enable anyone to take professional looking photographs and snapshot moments of life, without the hassle of having to tote around a bulky DSLR camera. This purpose behind Instagram is relatively harmless, serving as a manner for friends to communicate and share their lives through a convenient social media platform. Yet, somehow amidst these good intentions, a rising problem has emerged. Independent Scholar, Charlotte Champion, describes the new, evolved function and purpose of Instagram as, “Conditioned in part by the extrinsic character of a social networking service, the Instagram photograph shapes the way in which its users visually record their everyday lives and, importantly, has an affect on what is considered photo-worthy” (Champion). Without the filters of Instagram, our lives no longer appear to be social media worthy, causing us to reevaluate our identities and how we must present ourselves to the world. Instagram feeds on these weaknesses and feelings of self-doubt, offering users the ability showcase everyday aspects of their lives through a social media platform that makes ordianary experiences appear extraordinary. In her journal “Instagram: je-suis-lá?”, Champion states her belief that photography has diverted away to formulate a new purpose that is no longer focused on capturing memories. Instagram has become more than merely a means of documenting special experiences; instead, Instagram enables users to snapshot the normal aspects of life and share them as something uniquely great. Champion explains this as a form of bringing past experiences to the world and making them unique and memorable through social media: “For Instagram users, one supposes, the act of taking a photograph of their coffee and sharing it is paramount, or at least comes prior to, any more embodied act of its enjoyment. This apparently mundane observation in fact implies that the photograph as a mode of temporalization of social life is transformed” (Champion). These seemingly ephemeral experiences become idolized and become more than simply a memory; they are suddenly viewed as treasured, but at the price of authenticity. These images capture a newfound idolized real life, based on re-contextualized edits of uneventful moments, rather than actual reality. This embellished lifestyle leads to formulating identities based on unrealistic expectations that can only be met with inevitable disappointment.
In his academic journal, “Pics or it Didn’t Happen,” Aaron Frey clarifies how Instagram becomes this so-called vision of performance and perfection. He says, “The fact that Instagram is experienced by many users as something simply creative and fun, or a good way to kill time while bored, should not be discounted, but it disguises what is in fact a process operating under multiple logics and agencies” (Frey). Instagram enables its users to hyperbolize daily life to the point where our expectations become unrealistic, leading to inevitable disappointment. Frey uses the subjects of food, vacations and sunsets, for his examples. While all of these are a normal part of our daily life, through Instagram these casual experiences meet their imagined potential to become an idyllic, unrealistic fantasy. Instagram is marketed to users in this manner to promote dissatisfaction and a continued need and reliance upon visual alteration and control. Through this, we constantly strive for perfection in our own lives, which imitates the falsities found on Instagram.
David R. Zemmels elaborates on the definition of social media as a structure of cultural identity in his academic journal “Youth and New Media: Studying Identity and Meaning in an Evolving Media Environment”. In this context, we view social media as “a complex negotiation between our multiple selves (on-line and off-line) and the computer structures and operations through which we represent these selves to others” (Zemmels). While the life we present to the online world takes place off the screen, the majority of our self-presentation and identity formation is found through Instagram and its competitors. These social media sites allow the youth culture, in particular, to build and maintain online relationships that are formed around an image of perfection, lacking real truth and authenticity. Through sharing pictures on Instagram, Zemmels’s multiple self theory is personified, with users presenting a hyperbolized daily life, rather than honesty.
This yearning for perfection spreads from Instagram to other forms of social media. According to Baiyun Chen and Justin Marcus, social networking sites like Instagram encourage self-disclosure as a form of everyday communication. According to these scholars, “Self-disclosure and self-presentation processes are important aspects of relational development in in-person communications” (Chen and Marcus). This article on self-presentation describes the ways in which individuals tend to highlight one’s positive attributes for self-enhancement and security, when choosing what to disclose. While these beliefs may be valid for in-person communication, Chen and Marcus also emphasize how this relates to online communication and disclosures. According to their journal, an online environment can alter personal identities and presentations. This online environment can provide a feeling of safety and illusion of falsities that lead individuals to disclose more information about themselves and their lives. This relates back to Instagram and other forms of social media in that this environment allows social media users to stretch the truth and display favorable aspects of our lives. These findings lead many to question the authenticity of this form of self-disclosure, when it is based ultimately upon forming an identity of perfection. Instagram allow us to choose what we self disclose, sharing merely cookie-cutter alterations of our daily lives, rather than truth.
Our culture is completely dependent on social media sites such as Instagram that enable users to alter and mold our identity to our own desire. While this seemingly incredible gift is available with just a few clicks, it often occurs at the expense of authenticity and real friendships based on healthy self-disclosure. We have completely diverted from Instagram’s original intent, divulging this app into an entirely new creation formed by our own insecurities and desires for an image of perfection. While Instagram’s dangers of deception are present in today’s society, we will hope for changes to occur that will alter the attitude and reasoning behind the usage of this social media application.
Champion, Charlotte. “Instagram: Je-Suis-Lá?” Philosophy of Photography 3.1 (2012): 83-88. Art & Architecture Complete. Web. 12 May 2013.
Frey, Aaron. “Pics or it Didn’t Happen: Instagram in Prosumer Capitalism and Reflexive Modernity.” (2012): 1-11. Lund University. Web. 12 May 2013.
Baiyun, Chen, and Marcus Justin. “Students’ Self-Presentation On Facebook: An Examination of Personality And Self-Construal Factors.” Computers in Human Behavior 28. (n.d.) 2091-2099. ScienceDirect. Web. 12 May 2013.
Zernmels, David R. “Youth And New Media: Studying Identity And Meaning In An Evolving Media Environment.” Communication Research Trends 31.4 (2012): 4-22. Communications & Mass Media Complete. Web. 12 May 2013.