Escaping the Instagram Rabbit Hole
Real life is more fun, anyway.
When I first watched the 2010 film Alice in Wonderland, based on the book written in 1865 by Lewis Carroll, it gave me nightmares. It’s not that the movie was scary. In fact, the movie was made for a younger demographic in mind; nevertheless, I found the movie immensely creepy.
When I first heard about the book, many people told me that Lewis Carroll wrote it while using drugs heavily. However, other than Laudanum, which was legal in the 1860s, no evidence of further drug use can be substantiated. Maybe it’s just that the movie was directed by Tim Burton. I’ve always found his movies unsettling, but I digress.
The world of ‘Underland’ was artificial, too-colorful, and disorienting in a way that still makes my stomach turn. In short, Burton turned a classic children’s novel−something wholesome on its face−into something that felt like a bad acid trip with no transcendental payoff at the end.
Honestly, that’s the same feeling I get when I log onto Instagram these days. Everything is so artificial, contrived, and, yes, disorienting. My level of satisfaction with life decreases proportionately to time spent on the platform.
There are exceptions, of course.
Plenty of people on Instagram use it to connect with like-minded people who push them toward goals. The content on Instagram can be both inspirational and thoughtful, but much of what gets promoted on the site is nothing more than people posing like their lives are perfect, filtering their flaws away.
I’m not even going to say it’s ‘wrong’ to use filters. People edit their photos based on how they want to be perceived. Some people desire validation from others on their appearance or surroundings, so they edit more heavily. Others aim to project ‘authenticity,’ so they post photos that are rawer.
Projecting a Narrative
The point is everyone on Instagram is trying to shape how others perceive them through the content they post. And this is social media’s greatest lie. Sites like Instagram promise that the ability to “narrativize” your life like a story will make you feel more significant, more heard, more noticed.
It’s precisely the opposite. Placing your experiences in Instagram’s content pool only serves to make you feel more insignificant, less noticed, and dissatisfied with your current standing in life−making you more apt to buy things to remedy the problem.
Attention being the currency of our time, people mistakenly believe an increased follower count is tantamount to greater significance in life.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
Comparison Leads to Despair
The artificial matrix that is set up on Instagram leads to despair. The more you filter and stage your photos, separating them from the actual reality of situations therein, you may gain more followers, but you will also be struck by the huge incongruity between your online life and your real one. And if you’re anything like me, the difference will make you sad.
Even people who post more realistic pictures often don’t receive the same follower counts as those with more curated feeds unless you’re already a public figure with ‘authenticity’ as a part of your brand. Again, this lack of recognition online can make people feel as though the actions they take in real life are insignificant to others in the same way.
Some have proposed placing limits on the amount that people can edit their photos, along with increased policing of what goes up online. In my estimation, this is also a flawed path. You can’t get people to do what you want simply by voting a rule into place or passing legislation.
Own Your Journey
I realize it’s antithetical to push for personal contentment in our rampantly discontented consumer society, but that alone is the answer. It is vital to realize there is no such thing as perfection, online or otherwise, and the only way to escape the Rabbit Hole, as cheesy as it sounds, is to embrace self-love completely.
You do not have anything to prove to others. Your journey is significant because it’s yours, and that’s enough. This life is not meant to be a performative dance for others but an internal journey that leads to positive self-growth.
I know, it’s not nearly as sexy as racking up a serious follower count on Instagram or receiving the copious praise of others, but this approach offers the stability of contentment. Every life is significant, and everyone is on their own journey of self-discovery.
There will be times when the road ahead is uncertain. Moments of dirt, darkness, and imperfection. Hell, there are still moments when I open social media, and it feels like I’m the only one in the world who faces struggles or lives a life that isn’t consistently flawless.
Truth is, no one has a life that is perfect all the time. Everyone has struggles, and many times, people feel alone in those struggles without the perspective of knowing how people around them are also self-conscious. My antidote to social media, and Instagram in particular, is to understand that those on the platform are trying to project an image beyond what they are−an online superego, if you will.
But I prefer the image presented by my life as it is, flaws, bruises, and all. I will not live in the Underland. I’m crawling out of this toxic Rabbit Hole, even if I get a little dirty along the way.
