Instagram seriously harms your health… How to use social media without being used by social media.
Instagram seriously harms your health…? Every morning an Instagrammer wakes up and knows he will have to outrun the new algorithm. A problem that partly afflicts even those who, like me, deal with photography blogs.
Social networks are now a jungle (this case, above all, is a prime example in this sense), dealing with posts, hashtags, captions, stories, reels, etc. it became a full time job.
Earning money by posting photos and content is watering, no doubt. I got closer to Instagram as my passion for photos and my following grew more and more.
For me, a photographer by passion, a channel where the image is the protagonist perfectly, ça va sans dire.
Scrolling through the Home, however, I noticed how the images all have a minimum common denominator: ABSOLUTE PERFECTION.
Magnificent, glossy, luxurious, easy, comfortable lives …
Is it real life? NO.
Everybody knows? UNFORTUNATELY NO.
Wed I found myself reflecting on the message conveyed through these channels and how it is encoded, especially among the youngest or the most sensitive.
It takes very little to convince oneself that our life is not as exciting and pleasant as that of the influencer on duty, that it is not the “right” life to lead but it is enough to dismantle this mechanism, restore it and start a DETOX program from.
Here is a brief summary of what there is to know about this surreal and unreal world, the dark side of the web.
DON’T JUDGE A BOOK BY THE COVER
It is no longer a secret: followers, mythological beings (sometimes) able to make views and interactions shoot up, are not always all real. You can buy packages of robo-followers and you can also organize groups where you agree for an exchange: you follow me, I follow you, your content is mine, my content is yours (it turns out that in the end social-ism was all there!)
Collective accounts, comment pods, insta-places, follow-unfollow, in short: virtual criminal associations, able to position us high and achieve quick and painless success. But be careful, those who follow us are shrewd and if the contents are not up to par, we will fall like a house of cards.
Hard work and authenticity always pay off.
Everybody knows? UNFORTUNATELY NO.
This time, in the opposite sense: we don’t judge the lives of others based on what they post on their glittering account.
We all want to look perfect and get acclaim. Perfection, alas, does not exist and this too is well known.
Do we really think that social networks are the mirror of real life?
But no! Of course, it’s obvious… just as, outside of social media, our behavior at work or in other contexts isn’t real either.
It is not always falsehood, we simply have to direct our actions based on the circumstance and the result we want to obtain and if we are using that particular channel for work, it will be natural to make choices to position ourselves in a certain way.
You’ll never see a college professor in the classroom with flip-flops and a tank top, that’s not to say he doesn’t have more casual attire in his closet.
The moon has always shown us the same side for millennia, we know that there is an “other” half of it, hidden … yet we have always admired it, enchanted.
The real question, then, is:
WHAT DO WE REALLY WANT FROM SOCIAL MEDIA?
If we use them as mere users, as a window to the world, let’s live them lightly. We take what is posted with a grain of salt, without stubbornly appearing to be what we are not: the true affections, the people who matter in our real life, will always love us, without filters.
If, on the other hand, we want to expand our business through channels such as Instagram or similar, we also evaluate the possibility of contacting experts in the sector who work in an ethically impeccable way. For a long time I have been designing sites integrated with various social networks and helping companies to relocate, following them on their path and believe me: excellent indexing results can be achieved in an ethical way, without upsetting our personality.
Following trends without becoming their slaves, living in fashion and not for fashion, always orienting ourselves through our inner compass and at the same time gaining notoriety is possible: keeping your personality and being natural, in the long run, is the best investment in life real and virtual.
The “grandparents” were right: virtue lies somewhere in between.
And to agree with grandparents, either I am wise or I am… wise!
