Why You Should Stop Traveling for the Sake of Your Instagram Account

It’s that time of year when you step to your closet, pick out a few well-chosen items, pack your bags and head for brighter shores. You step off the plane and are suddenly in another world, away from the hustle and bustle of the city life and you’ve settled in your perfect oasis. Day one of your trip you decide to hike to the top of a mountain to get a look at the views of the town, but the moment you step over the crest of the hill and see the spectacular view stretching for miles, you pull out your phone to take a picture.

-By Nikki Main

Instead of focusing on the beauty in front of you, you are now taking picture after picture and selfie after selfie looking for the perfect one. This not only ruined the moment you could have spent enjoying the view, but you are just now consumed with technology and posting to your Instagram account. Now you aren’t just quickly posting your favorite photo, you are scrolling through to find your favorite image and then doctoring it, before you know it a half hour has gone by and you still aren’t satisfied with the image you are going to post. “Is it instagramable?” You ask yourself.

This is the problem with this day and age, when getting more likes has taken over the experience itself. Increasingly, people are traveling for the sake of their Instagram account rather than for the experience. I experienced this firsthand at a fourth of July fireworks celebration. I stood quietly in a crowded park watching the Macy’s firework display when I noticed a girl two people in front of me with her back to the fireworks. “What is she doing?” I asked myself, until I noticed the small iPhone in her hand. She took selfie after selfie after selfie trying to find the perfect one. She tried several different angles and poses and lighting. Flash or no flash, I watched her ask herself. She finally settled on no flash, but by the time she had finished taking the pictures, the fireworks were all but over.

This begs the question if we are using social media too much? Are we actually chained to our devices, a slave to Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter? In order to protect ourselves from this growing trend we must remember to slow down and appreciate life. Don’t spend so much time worrying about the perfect photo, for once eat that brunch without taking a picture, just enjoy the experience, stop at the top of that mountain, and spend ten minutes taking in the view before pulling out your device. I think you’ll find that you’ll be much happier.

-N.M.