The One Where I Scrolled Through Instagram

by Mikayla

I was on my phone last night, procrastinating a certain assignment, when I found myself opening the Instagram app. Now Im not an avid user of Instagram, mainly because I don’t have the time, but I often find myself using it when I am bored or when I’m trying to look busy so strangers don’t come talk to me. But last night was an exception. After a few minutes of scrolling through all the posts of everyones fall break, looking at countless pictures of people at concerts and the state fair, I remember putting my phone down and feeling….well down. I felt as though I had wasted a break that I was 15 minutes ago content with.

People are always saying that Instagram is a platform for individuals to post their highlight reels and that nothing is ever really what it seems. But this idea never really sat well with me.

I don’t want to have such a cynical mindset about people’s lives. I don’t want to see a picture of someone smiling and then think to myself “oh their probably faking it” or “Im sure its not as much fun as it looks”.

I went to a party last week that was foreshadowed to be really great, but in the end turned out to be pretty lame. So I left the party early to return to my bed.

(Where I would have preferred to have been the entire night)

As I laid my head down on my pillow, I heard a ding on my phone. I checked it and saw that I was tagged in a photo on Instagram. I opened up the app and looked at the picture of me and some other people from the party, smiling as though we just had the best night of our lives, with a caption that read:

“Taphouse party was lit”.

Before I had time to consciously form an opinion of this caption, my mouth was already letting out the word “pfft” and my eyes were already rolling.

I know for a fact that if I had not been at this party and saw this picture, I would have had some serious fomo (fear of missing out). I would have thought that I missed a great night with music and dancing. But since I was there, I can safely say that I did not.

After I finished scrolling through all the seemingly perfect posts of everyone’s life, I decided to take a serious look at the way people present themselves on Instagram and think about the negative thoughts that manifest as a result. So I get in my bed, grab some pizza and once again scroll through Instagram.

Who says we spend too much time on social media?

Kylie Jenner is the definition of fake because of her lip injections and constant glammed up face. However, she is also the definition of perfect w/ her desirable hourglass figure.

*closes the personal box of pizza*

Mental note hit the gym

Scratch that last note just pick up some fit tea

Looks like they’re having fun.

I keep scrolling because why not?

Sure, because how could we show a girl washing her face without having on a full face of makeup and perfect loose waves?

Instagram is supposed to be a social platform that connects us, but since when is looking at someones glossed up portfolio a connection? We have created a “look at me” society through these mainstream forms of anti social media. We comment things such as “stunning” and “slay” to help build the confidence of others but in a way we shatter our own by meassauring our self worth to the beauty of others.

Maybe it’s our own faults. I mean we chose to follow these accounts. I could unfollow them or log out at any time. So why are we still logged in?

It all comes down to social relativity: the idea that the only thing that matters to human well-being is how one stands relatively to others. We’ve become addicted to comparing our lives to other. So much so that when we do something new or exciting, we make sure to post about it so people can see just how good we are doing in life. So that they can see our highs but never our lows. It’s become a constant cycle. But what are we doing about it?

But none of this is new to society. Nor is it new news that Instagram functions in this way. A way that makes us question the way we look and enhance the way we present our lives to the world. After all of this I think I’m going to step back from social media for a while. If I do use Instagram I hope to post moments when Im genuinely happy without exaggeration or to simply not post them at all and keep them for myself. Because despite popular belief, we don’t have to share everything with the world. Somethings we can just enjoy ourselves.

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