I came to Instagram from the geeky world of Tumblr. I
thought that Tumblr was *my* place on the internet. Geeky memes, fanfiction,
and a pleasant mix of photos and text. Yet there was tension and stress on
Tumblr that had begun to make the internet a less pleasant place to be. I’d
begun to think that this was just how social media was, since Facebook had
become a similar sort of place.
When I got my first smartphone, it only took a few months
before I ventured onto Instagram. I was so prolific on Facebook that I first
thought that Instagram would be rather redundant. Yet I decided to give it a
try and have been hooked ever since.
Why?
I keep pondering this. I think there are a lot of reasons.
One is that, despite being a writer, I am an intensely visual person. I LOVE
photos with a deep and intense passion. I love seeing photos from people I
love, and I adore seeing beautiful pictures, inspiring pictures, and especially
photos of the creative process. Once I found the sewing world on Instagram, I
fell head over heels in love with the platform.
But it is more than photos that I love about Instagram. It
is the aura of positivity. I’ve been on Instagram for several years now and it
has been, overwhelmingly, an encouraging and positive experience. I’m sure
there are circles on the platform that are negative and factional, but overall
I believe the way the app works lends itself toward celebrating beauty, of all
kinds. (And I include the beauty of *real* life, #nofilter, #messyroom,
#nomakeup in that.)
Social Media photos have come under a lot of fire in recent
years and for good reason. An excellent example is the new “Jumanji: Welcome to
the Jungle” movie where an early scene shows a teen staging a photo that is
supposed to be just a snapshot of ordinary life but clearly isn’t. We want to
put our best foot forward to the world. It also, clearly, facilitates an idea
of a ‘perfect life.’ One can get the sense that everyone else lives in a rosy, Pinterest-perfect world.
This leads to a growing self-awareness and introspection of
the way photo sharing online works. Sophia Kinsella wrote a funny and critical book
called “My Not-So-Perfect Life” that beautifully and scathingly dissects the
weaknesses of the media—but ends with an offer of a better way: namely, to be
honest about every aspect of our lives.
I’ve tried to be conscious about this in my own media. Being
chronically ill, my life is so very far from perfect. Sure, I won’t show the
pile of dirty laundry in the corner, and I may crop out the very worst of my
facial acne, but I try not to shy away from showing the roughness around the
edges. I’ve always been my own advocate for my deafness, and I’m trying to be
one for my chronic illness as well. Using Instagram to give glimpses of all the
sides of living with chronic fatigue and chronic pain is important. I know I’ve
certainly found courage and inspiration in the photos and stories of others in
the same boat and I hope to pass on the benefits.
That is not, however, the only struggle that I have.
The other week I came across a meme that attached each of the major social media
platforms to one of the Seven Deadly Sins. Instagram’s temptation? Pride. Boy
did THAT hit home. See, the other side of being chronically ill is that so much
of what I do remains hidden. For me, sharing it on social media is a way to be,
well, social with my creative endeavors! I know there has been great positive
encouragement both for myself and in inspiration for others with many of my
postings. Yet I would be naïve to ignore the temptation of pride which photos
can clearly elicit from me.
And yet, even while pondering this weakness, I came across
another strength of the platform, one which I believe feeds the sense of
positivity that I’ve enjoyed from it.
You see, the past month has been tremendously difficult,
emotionally. And I find, when I’m struggling with really difficult, painful
things, I have a lot to think and say about the subject in my diary, my
prayers, and to my loved ones. Now the past few days have been beautiful, and
I’ve taken such joy in their beauty. Yet when I try to reach back and hold onto
the beauty, try to write it down or share it, it is fleeting. I am taking joy
in tiny things, ordinary things: the fresh growth of plants in my garden, the
sense of wholeness and health just from doing a load of laundry or making
dinner for my husband, the satisfaction from being able to sit down with tea
and write and write and write, the laughter at the latest escapades of my
puppy. I can capture a little bit of this in these sentences, but repeating
them over and over, every day, would get redundant.
And yet…when I share pictures on Instagram, it captures
these simple little joys. Maybe there is some redundancy, but the visuals
capture a poignancy, immediacy, and individuality that words alone cannot. And
far quicker too. A simple glance passes on the joy, whereas a whole paragraph
takes much longer to read without truly conveying the beauty.
Instagram, at its heart, is a place to share and celebrate
the joys of life, of every shape and size. It’s a place where you can see the
satisfaction and beauty of a simple cup of tea with the same poignancy as a
breathtaking landscape. Indeed, the limited size of a smartphone screen means
that, in some ways, the smallest things come through the strongest and have the
largest impact on our emotions.
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