Instagram: A Simple Way of Blurring the Truth
By Nicole Clinkaberry
Adriel Booker,
who is a teacher, mentor and leadership coach for Youth With A Mission
Australia mentioned in a recent
blog relating to her Instagram that “…we can portray ourselves online in a
way that makes everything about our lives look easy, polished, beautiful, and
very much put together.”
I have chosen to
focus my blogs on the social networking site Instagram. After using Facebook
for many years, I gave it up in 2012 for the much simpler format of Instagram.
This particular networking site acts as a timeline or virtual map of a persons
life in pictures. When discussing maps, we have to consider the truths
involved, for example, how a Mercator map serves its purpose for navigation,
though is not entirely truthful in relation to scales and land mass sizes
(Wood, Kaiser & Abramms, 2006).
The same can be
said for Instagram. Yes, I am posting a photo of myself to show that I have had
my hair done, truth. But with the features available I can add a filter that
shows my face in the best light, throw in a border, change the contrast and
even smudge the edges a little to get my messy room in the background out of
focus. This can be tied to sousveillance as mentioned in this weeks lecture
(Petray, 2013).
Instagram can be
a definition of giving power to an individual when it comes to self
surveillance. The user is choosing what is shown and how it is displayed and
who can ‘follow’ them and view it. Unlike Facebook, there are no statuses, no
links to advertising, no apps for gaming and no enormous ‘walls’ or ‘news feeds’
of users spam. What you see is what you get, even if it is a truth somewhat
blurred by a filter. In summary, Instagram goes against Barnes (1997) view that
“All journeys in cyberspace lead deeper into the labyrinthine web of links,
further away from the exit point…”, and simplifies the sometimes overwhelming
world of social networking.
Reference List
Adriel Booker.
(2013). Is it ok to only tell half the
story?. Retrieved from http://www.adrielbooker.com
Barnes, G.
(1997). Passage of the cyber-flaneur.
Retrieved from http://www.raynnbird.com/essays/Passage_Flaneur.html
Wood, D.,
Kaiser, W.L., & Abramms, B. (2006). The multiple truths of the mappable
world, in Seeing through maps: Many ways
to see the world (pp. 1-12). Oxford, UK: New Internationalist.
Petray, T.
(2013). BA1002: Networks, narratives, and
the making of place, week 3 notes. [Power Point]. Retrieved from http://learnjcu.jcu.edu.au
Image:
Instagram logo. [Image]. (2012). Retrieved from:
www.gadgets.ndtv.com
Very good Nicole! keep up the good work :)
ReplyDeleteNicole,
ReplyDeleteNice Blog. :)
In your statement -
"Instagram can be a definition of giving power to an individual when it comes to self-surveillance."
I believe this is correct in that the individual does have access to self-surveillance power, however not in the sense that it is giving. Instagram assists the user for the 'possibility' of power rather than the user automatically having power just for having Instagram. This follows the statement directly after the aforementioned that;
"The user is choosing what is shown and how it is displayed and who can ‘follow’ them and view it."
Again the user has "access" to this power and space but to fully embrace the functionality of Instagram the user doesn't actually have 100% power. Is the individual really choosing what is shown on their profile and how others are going to perceive what may just be a new hair style- but for others actually flaunting the fact that you have money and access to luxuries?
Is the user seeing and perceiving their news feed the way that “they choose it” or are they left vulnerable by the ongoing, unfiltered news feed that others are posting?
Hi Nicole,
ReplyDeleteGreat blog! I really enjoyed reading it :)
I just wanted to draw on what you mentioned in that final paragraph: "The user is choosing what is shown and how it is displayed and who can ‘follow’ them and view it. Unlike Facebook, there are no statuses, no links to advertising, no apps for gaming and no enormous ‘walls’ or ‘news feeds’ of users spam. What you see is what you get, even if it is a truth somewhat blurred by a filter."
I do agree that Instagram is much more 'to the point' as such, but at the same time I believe that Instagram and Facebook are pretty much exactly the same in terms of the choices that the users can make when displaying info. On both networking sites, the user has the power to choose who they follow or have as friends and they can choose what photos and/or status' they post.
And when you say that its easy to portray yourself however you would like to on Instagram, I believe this is the same for any social networking site. You only share with others what you want them to know.
While Facebook has so much more pointless distractions (like advertising, and gaming), the main gist of the network is much the same as Instagram.
PS. I'd choose Instagram over Facebook anyday as well ;)