Instagram: Capture and Share the World’s “Moments”

By Allie Rahn & Taylor Hartman 

Social-networking sites have come a long way since the early 2000’s. First it was Myspace, then Facebook and Tumblr, and now Twitter, Instagram, Kik, Snapchat, etc. These websites and apps draw a lot of attention from young people as it connects them to their friends, family, and other people from all over the world. It also gives them a chance to follow their favorite celebrities, sport stars, and actors/actresses. We decided to focus on Instagram specifically for our cultural artifact.

Launched in 2010, Instagram allows its users to post pictures and share them with the world. When someone posts a picture or video, he or she is able to apply a filter and edit the characteristics of the picture or video. These features have allowed many users to alter their looks in many different ways. One way specifically, is that these features give the users opportunities to hide their insecurities. Many of these so called “flawless” photos have poured onto the site. These pictures have many young people looking at “Instagram models” for inspiration. This then leads many of the users of Instagram to define their worth based on how many likes or followers they get. People want to look as perfect as these models and strive to look like them and post pictures similar to theirs. However, it is a very different point of view for the models.

To most of these models, their candid, simple pictures are actually a job to them. The candid photos they post, aren’t actually true candid. They are staged in order to look as perfect as they can be, so in return they receive more likes and followers. They also do ads for companies such as teeth whitening products and detoxifying teas, and they receive money for their photos and videos. The recognition from these companies started from their want for follows and likes. In the video above, 19 year-old Essena O’Neill had become addicted to Instagram by trying to gain as many followers and likes as possible, and she finally realizes that she was not happy and was not being true to herself. She ended up taking off the original captions to her photos, and then she began writing the truth about the pictures. She would explain how that the pictures were not candid or she probably did not eat that day, and so on. Even a model like her was unhappy with herself. This shows exactly how there are so many stereotypes of which women need to be like. Essena spent so much of her time trying to fulfil what a beautiful women should look like, when in the end it just made her miserable.

The reason why we chose Instagram is because it has become very popular in the past few years, especially for people around our age. This topic also ties in with what we have discussed in class about how our society has this idea of what beauty is. In order to be “beautiful” you must have a certain list of characteristics. This then leads to society not thinking many people are beautiful unless they fit those characteristics. For a woman, you must be skinny, have a flawless face, hair, skin, teeth, etc. However, not everybody has all or any of these characteristics. Social media such as Instagram promotes these stereotypes of what a beautiful woman is, if you do not get a certain amount of likes then you are not beautiful. Our society and young women especially need to stop stereotyping what beauty is. They should start with Instagram. Post pictures that you feel confident and happy in because that’s what’s beautiful.

Tinder

By Michael Barber & Emily Neels

The younger generations of our society are almost exclusively dedicated to social media, and use it for every aspect of their lives. Although there are many different examples of this idea, Tinder seems to really take this concept and apply it to one of the most “sacred” parts of life: the relationship. Tinder is a dating app that is very popular among people from 18 to 30 years of age; however, it is used mostly for people to meet each other and hook up. Tinder is negatively impacting American society because it reduces the amount of social skills used in someone’s life as well as supports a sexually dishonest lifestyle.

The concept is if two people both like pictures of each other, they can message each other and then keep advancing in communication if they desire too. According to businessinsider.com, approximately 85% of Tinder’s users are between the ages of 18 and 34. This is a huge portion of the users and shows that the app is widely used by younger generations of people. This makes it easier for the younger generations to find a relationship, without real emotional connection or responsibilities, and just as easy to end it.

Tinder is negatively impacting American society because it is reducing the amount of personal connections between people as well as showing that people do not value monogamy and a long lasting relationship with one person. The way the initial contact starts is by liking only the way a person looks, and after that, you can initiate conversation. This wouldn’t seem terribly negative from just observing how it works, however, the conversation doesn’t consist of “getting to know you” questions. The topic is sex, and considering the amount of connections one person can get are limitless, it can be assumed that sex is a topic that is carried through dozens of conversations. These conversations are happening virtually rather than in person to person contact which further harms our technologically savvy generation in regards to our social skills. There are not many people in our generation that can reasonably go more than a few hours without looking at their phones. Tinder only adds to this problem as well as helps people to shy away from personal contact.

The younger American generation as a whole values having many different options and being able to access them. This is perhaps because we like the appeal of having what appears to be a temporary relationship because the idea of being able to move on to someone better at anytime appeals to the younger generation.  Also, because there is not “friend list” or anything of the like, it is rather simple for people who are in relationships to have a Tinder and have their significant other never find out.  The way the app is set up, a person can like as many people as they desire and therefore talk to and meet as many people as desired as long as they have liked your profile as well.  This contributes to the fact that people don’t want to truly just meet one person, they want the attention from as many people as possible in order to satisfy their narcissistic needs.

If the younger American generations continue to use Tinder, and the values associated with Tinder, society will continue to trend towards less successful marriages. Furthermore, the social skills that are lost from using Tinder are needed for more than just dating.  People with better developed social skills excel in many jobs and other areas of their lives as well. American society is being negatively impacted by Tinder because it neglects person to person contact in a dating format and helps to support a sexually dishonest lifestyle.