On my Spatial Self….
Though I have an account on most of the popular social media platforms, I really only post on Instagram. Perhaps it is because my account is private that I feel comfortable enough to share memories and experiences with an audience, or because it was the primary social platform used by myself and my friends growing up. Either way, it is the best lens through which to analyze my spatial self.
My adoption of Instagram was far earlier than most, dating back to when it was the app of choice for professional photographers. I toyed around with some of the features and aimed to emulate some of the photographers I followed by taking scenic photos of the places I visited, as best as an 11 year old could. In the early iterations of Instagram, location was far more central to the app than it is today. The tab that used to direct you to a user’s photo map has disappeared as the app turns towards Stories and shopping features.
Despite this, Instagram still allows you to add a location to posts and Stories. Upon first reflection of the Schwartz and Halegoua reading, I did not consider myself to be someone who bothered to utilize this feature. After all, I still did not post that often compared to others and when I did it was often just pictures of myself with friends, a departure from my previous endeavors into artistic photography. When I went to check my profile, I was shocked to see nearly every post I made had a location included. It was as if I was doing it instinctually, just as I had since I created my account.
The locations tagged usually cycled through the same few places: my hometown (why would I even bother??), my summer camp, school, and NYC. Considering my followers are comprised entirely by people that I am friends with (or used to be friends with), I found it funny that I felt the need to update them on what Syosset looked like or provide context for them in case they couldn’t figure out that my tailgate post was indeed at Northwestern University.
Overall, I think that despite being an avid user of location tagging on Instagram, I don’t use it to celebrate places I love or to show off the places I’ve been, but rather, I feel as if it provides context to the stages of my life even if the post is rather self-explanatory. In this lens, the act of adding a geotag can be considered digital placemaking, defined in class as “harnessing digital media to create meaningful places or build emotional attachments to particular locations.”
Sure, the geotag is self-explanatory at times, but it serves to remind me (and the viewer of my account) of what the geotagged places mean to me. Northwestern is a university attended by thousands, but that photo of myself on campus has special ties that are only relevant to me. For me, that is my Northwestern experience, transforming the campus from a location to a place.
