The Pressures of Posting on Instagram
Graphic by Louden Johns
Instagram was created to be a platform on which users can share snapshots of their daily lives quickly and efficiently. Now it has an online shopping platform, algorithms to push curated content, and the monetization of individual brands through influencers.
The pressure to portray a “perfect” version of life on Instagram gained popularity due to several reasons. The platform, through its emphasis on visual content, encourages users to curate their lives meticulously, because it's human nature to want to show the best parts of our lives to everyone. This curated perfection has been perpetuated by so many people, especially celebrities and influencers, that it has become a societal norm.
Instagram, as we all know, counts likes and comments which inevitably leads to most people wanting to gain approval and validation by posting the perfect post. Even in the early ages of the app, there were many filters and photo editing technology embedded in the app to allow users to “fix” their photos.
As a result of the flawlessly edited and selected influencer content setting an impossibly high standard for beauty, success, and lifestyle, many users feel like their posts should measure up. After being constantly exposed to the glamorous lives of influencers, people often find themselves dealing with feelings of inadequacy and the constant need to measure up. Leading to anxiety over making sure everything is perfect in their posts. Even influencers are not immune to the stress that comes with maintaining an online presence.
The pursuit of perfection can lead to feelings of inadequacy, anxiety, and even mental health issues which have thankfully started to be addressed. In recent years, there has been a noticeable shift in trends on social media as a whole, with users trying to embrace imperfection.
Now there is a need for balance striving for perfection and appearing effortlessly authentic. There's a fine line between presenting curated, aesthetically pleasing content and avoiding the appearance of trying too hard. I catch myself not adding music to my stories, or contemplating what to caption my posts, or something along those lines almost every time I go to post.
Instagram does have new features like hiding like counts aim to shift the focus away from the numbers. While this has helped many people by reducing anxiety, there are still a lot of new initiatives in the works to figure out ways to reduce the negative impact this pressure can have on people, especially the younger generation. But the most important thing to remember is to live life and post whatever makes you happy (follow the guidelines tho).