As we do most weeks in ASTU, we are continuing our line of life narrative work, and blogging about the research we’ve done around it. As we’ve mentioned before in our class discussions around HONY and Facebook, we’ve come to the consensus that some pictures are, in fact, worth a thousand words. Pictures provide life narratives of their own, holding history, secrets, memoires, and life, and portraying emotions that there wouldn’t otherwise be words to describe. They tell the stories of precious moments, providing us with small snapshots into each others lives. However, with all the social media outlets, it’s sometimes hard to find the truth behind the filters.
As I was perusing through Facebook a few days ago, I came across a BuzzFeed video, asking five people to talk about their Instagrams, and share the details behind their perfect picture.
In the video, one of the women mentions how, in her picture, she used the “dorky, totally didn’t know the picture was being taken” candid, saying how that was a more likable look in a picture than one of a woman with confidence. Another mentions how he zoomed in on his photo so he could “look skinnier”. Every one of the 5 interviewees mentioned their self consciousness, either with their debate on how they looked in the picture, or how they thought people would react to the picture, whether it was good enough for the world to see without feeling too judged. These pictures aren’t lies, to put it frankly, but they’re not whole truths. They tell stories, however they’re stories that have a little bit of a twist on them. Everyone tries to conform to social media, tries to look casual but cute. Everyone wants to feel good about themselves, so why not add a filter to cover your insecurities. Yet these half truths are fooling no one. Everyone tries to share their stories, yet they only share what they want to be known. They show what they think the world wants to see, pleasing others, not themselves. It’s a vicious cycle of tormenting yourself for the most likes, while trying to seem casual enough to be cute. To make everyday actions look just on the inside of artificial to pass as acceptable. That’s what people work for though. To just be accepted, even if it’s someone their not, instead of being someone they are. That’s why on Sunday the 22nd, BuzzFeed challenged social media users to post a picture with the hashtag, #ifsocialmediawerehonest, encouraging people to post an honest picture of themselves. Not hiding behind their insecurities, but sharing their love for themselves with the world.