I have a list of very serious questions and comments for the avid Instagrammer:
- Would your seven-layer chocolate cake taste as good if you didn't take a picture of it and share it with the Instagram world?
- When did you get so skinny and when did mirror pictures become cool again?
- Thank you for hashtagging the name of your Essie nail polish. But seriously, I'm going to go get it tomorrow.
- I really appreciate the pictures you've uploaded of every angle of your college room - no need for an Ikea catalogue these days.
- Even Amaro can't make a mixed caramel macchiato look good. So although it tastes nasty before you shake it up, thank you for drinking it milk on top and coffee on bottom, because that just looks so much trendier.
- Wait, you got a new tattoo on your back? Please show it to me again in different lighting and with a different effect. I just can't get enough.
My freshman year, I wrote a column about Mobile Uploads. I could not understand why people paused mid-action to pose for a Blackberry snapshot and then upload it to Facebook immediately afterward for the entire world to see. Even more so, I couldn't understand why I loved it so much.
Two years have passed and that column is no longer pertinent. Replace "Blackberry" with "iPhone" and "Facebook" with "Instagram," and you've got yourself the newest #FirstWorldProblem.
Once you go Instawack you never go back.
Many students drove to Buffalo at least three days before the start of classes to move in their belongings, settle down, and - most importantly - party. For every sip of beer, every outfit change, and every new friend who finally arrived at school, there was sure to be an Instagram.
How can you blame users for being so ridiculously obsessed with this new application? Even the most unfortunate looking person, or - in some cases - cup of coffee, can be turned into a gorgeous, vintage-looking object with one magical click of an Instagram filter. Over time, the more intense "photographers" figure out how to use the blur and location apps, ensuring that every upload is as artsy and informative to the public as possible.
According to a Master's degree study done by Zachary MacCune, a young Instagrammer, there are a variety of reasons society is becoming so addicted to Instagram. The thrill of getting responses from other users, a sense of having an audience, and the belief that 'InstaSociety' improves individual photography all encourage users to take more photos.
The application keeps people connected in ways that make my parents feel ancient. At any moment users have the ability to take a photo, edit it, and send it directly to everyone's Instagram newsfeed. I can tell you what half of my friends had for breakfast this morning and what they're currently cooking for lunch. I have had an up-close-and-personal illustration of friends' make out sessions with their boyfriends because they have been photographed and uploaded.
If you haven't updated your Blackberry - or worse, flip phone - and gotten your hands on an iPhone or Android, consider yourself lucky for delaying this addiction. Once you get it you'll be double tapping everything you like, and when a small heart doesn't pop up in front of you, you'll be confused (you'll know what I mean).
As of July 26, 2012, there were 80 million Instagram users and over 4 billion photos shared, according to blog.instagram.com.
It doesn't look like this social media phenomenon is going anywhere anytime soon, so when all of you anti-Instagrammers make the decision to download the app, search for me (kerenbee) and be honest: Does Lo-Fi make my butt look big?
Email: keren.baruch@ubspectrum.com
