This is not a particularly insightful observation, and I’m sure most of you are aware of this, but my god has that place ever good downhill, even compared to how it was before…
I only still have an account because some people (women, always women) seem to view it as an “acceptable” communication method for acquaintances. And if you meet one and you say “I don’t use Instagram” then that’s an immediate conversation-ended, lol. And admittedly it can be useful sometimes, for that purpose. Or to see what a select set of people are doing.
But man, for the majority of people I know, on there, whether I went to school with them, or Uni, or met them in some other way, it’s all become the same vacuous bullshit.
Girls LARPing the millionaire lifestyle despite being largely unemployed. Guys posing shirtless on treadmills or showing how “fit” both they and their partner are. All manner of pretentious, vacuous relationship bullshit.
Sure, Facebook is, and has always been, fucking terrible, but at least people are sometimes funny on there.
I can only think of one person on my Insta who ever posts anything particularly “amusing”, and I don’t even know her personally. The rest of it is utter, utter braggadocio shit.
/endrant
Tis a strange and silly place. It certainly has some interesting features, and I "generally" like the UI design, but it has a lot of weird oddities and quirks too.
As for how people seem to use it, I get what you're referring to. On first glance a lot of it looks rather showy and pretentious, and in many cases that's almost all it is for the individual using it.
On the other hand, I think some are using it that way to both present for themselves, and to others, that they're out enjoying a life filled with adventures. Which to some might seem a bit shallow and artificial, but very well might be at least a little meaningful, in the right context. And as with all things, some sorts of people just have to take it an inch further.
Slightly off-topic though, but am I the only one that finds it disjointing with how modern social media and messaging platforms show that messages have been read by the recipient? It's not something I've been used to with almost any form of online communication before.