Stop Taking Pictures of Everything

Social media is incredible, but sometimes people abuse it a little bit.

This essay is an excerpt from a book I co-authored.

Do you require social media to validate your existence in the world?

Do you use it to subconsciously prove something you have been in turmoil over since childhood?

Do you fluctuate between states of grateful affirmation to desperate attention-seeking like a metronome?

Are you actually a photography enthusiast, or are you just a narcissistic normie?

People Who Take Pictures Too Much

What exactly is considered “too much”? Opinions on this may vary, but a great benchmark is the “Photo-Taking Impairment Effect” which is a concept coined by cognitive psychologist Linda A. Henkel.

In her studies, she conducted multiple long-term experiments that would test the difference between the ability to store memories between people who take a lot of pictures versus those who hardly take pictures at all. Her study involved 1000 participants from many different countries. To put it short, what she discovered was that people who took many pictures while traveling (about 5 or more at any given moment), have the tendency to not fully take at the moment, and not remember specific sensory details such as the temperature, ambiance, and sounds at a specific location and time.

Another similar study, this time by Maryanne Garry from the University of Wellington (NZ) yielded similar results, but this time isolated distraction and attention span as additional culprits to the degradation of people’s memories. It was apparent in her study, that the people who took a large number of photos while traveling often had a less satisfying experience in the present moment, compared to those who didn’t.

Admit it or not, there are millions of people who are not satisfied with one, maybe two keepsake photos, and really just have to take tens upon hundreds of photos every time they go out to travel or spend time with friends. The motivations for taking such an absurd amount of photos will differ from person to person, but regardless of what those are, one thing is for sure; too much photography can ruin your moments.

Why do many people use vintage-retro 80s/90s-inspired photo filters nowadays? Because it goes back to a time where analog photograph film was the only available medium for capturing memories. And for sure, analog film is expensive and comes with the extra cost of developing at a 1hr photo store. Having this basic technology at hand will really force you to make every shot count, and the moment that you look back at your developed photographs, you feel a sense of satisfaction, because just one simple physical photo can bring back a thousand memories. This is why thousands of people still swear by analog film photography, and completely ignore their smartphones for traveling and other precious moments.

Nowadays, with the ease and temptation to take way too many photos; in some cases, not even a thousand photos can bring back one memory. It’s the sad reality of having too much technology at the wrong time. Besides ruining the moment, taking too many photos and posting them too much is a great way to make yourself look like an attention-seeking narcissist. The word “Narcissist” is a psychological term used to describe people who have extreme self-centeredness and the tendency to view themselves higher than other people.

There are hundreds (maybe thousands?) of literature that link social media to ego-centered behavior. One excellent example is one by psychologist Aaron Balik; in his work Social Media, Ego and Self , he outlines how “when the ego gets stroked by recognition and affirmation from other people, it will always want more”. This is very true in the case of people who post a lot of content about their lives on a consistent basis. The main motivation they have for doing so is the approval and acknowledgement from others. Since the brain is not great at telling the difference between real-life approval and likes on social media, both stimuli yield the same result: activate the reward pathway in the brain through dopamine and serotonin hormone releases. Since you feel good about the attention people give you on social media, you will be inclined again and again to keep posting about your life. Since you keep chasing this “high” of praise and acknowledgement from other people, you start forming habits like taking too many photos and posting them online.

What Your Selfies Say About Your Mental Health

On social media, there are many ways that people can alter their appearance to look more like photoshopped celebrities and plastic surgery-operated movie stars. One of these ways is by utilizing the many filters available for photography-oriented social media apps like Instagram or Snapchat.

Personally, I have observed one specific trend. Many of the themed filters often cover certain areas of the face such as the mouth or the nose which, according to several studies, are areas of the face that a surprising amount of people are unhappy with or are insecure about. To add to this, there are hundreds of incredible visual effects that create cool effects by altering the lighting and photo properties to create an entirely different vibe. Besides creating amusing visuals, what these also do is lower the quality of the photos to hide blemishes, pimples, and acne, much to the benefit of people who are insecure about these minor details.

This brings me on to posing; a lot of people like to have signature poses, such as tilting the head to one side or employing certain hand signs or objects to cover parts of the body. Other than being funny (which is perfectly acceptable), the main reason why people intentionally do this is to; A: bring out their most “beautiful” features, and B: to hide their less desirable features. If for instance, I am insecure about my lips and mouth, all I need to do is do a “peace-sign” to cover it. If I want to make myself look thinner than I actually am, all I need to do is breathe in really hard, and spend maybe five minutes to find that perfect angle.

Millions of people are guilty of doing these sorts of things, and it is highly likely that you know someone who does these too.

Whatever happened to being confident in your own unique beauty? Is attention from others slowly starting to overshadow quiet confidence?

Back when photography was an art and not a compulsive habit, camera film costed a fortune and people did not have the time to do poses and shit whenever someone would snap their Polaroid.

All of the motivations behind these simple “physique-improving” activities can be summed up in one word: “approval”. This can be your own self-approval or the approval from others when you post content online. Seeking approval from others is not a new thing. In fact, any scholar of anthropology will tell you that it is an evolutionary trait that the human brain developed in order to survive in the ancient era. Back in the caveman period, the approval of your tribe will determine your likelihood for survival and support during times of famine or danger. The thing is though, times have changed and we are living in the 21st century, where philosophy and moral ethics have reaped a higher level of thought. It is still debatable whether anxiety and social comparison still has a role in our modern world.

Before moving on, try reflecting on some of the bullet points below; it may help you gain an insight into your own mental image.

• Whenever I take a photo with me in it, do I feel the need to put filters or edits to hide my natural beauty?
• Am I insecure about my own unique and special identity?
• How much does the approval of other people impact me?
• Am I subconsciously sabotaging my opportunities to be self-expressive?

A Culture Of Highlight Reels and Influencers

Social media apps like Instagram, from a mainstream perspective, are perpetuated by an idealism that “everything has to be perfect”. This circulating thought of “perfectionism” is not the fault of the platform though. Social media does not brag, nor does it overshare like a narcissistic maniac; people do that. Instagram doesn’t force you to post updates every single day, nor conform to any mainstream style of content creation; it is your mind that does that. All the stupid things on social media (for the most part) are a result of the people who use them.

Since a “put your best foot forward” mindset exists on many Instagram profiles, there is a tendency that people only post the best parts of their lives. Example content includes:

• The places they’ve traveled
• The people in their lives
• The fun things they do
• The things they own
• The achievements they get

And so on…

Nobody really knows where this culture of “idealism” came from, but the best guess would be from the activity of rich social media influencers who are keen on showing the world how “perfect” their lives are. There are many great examples of social media influencers like the Kardashian family who often post nothing but highlights and pictures of themselves. The issue with people like these is that, given their seemingly “elite” status, it is already second nature that many people follow them on Instagram, Twitter and etc…. Since many people consume their content on a daily basis, there is a tendency for other people to copy or imitate the type of social media habits that they do. It is classic “Influencer mentality”, and when people look up to the wrong people, they end up doing the wrong things themselves.

Monkey see, monkey do.

Before moving forward, it is worth mentioning that many influencers on the internet are popular for the wrong reasons. It is far too common to see sexy racy women rise to fame, even though they have no talent whatsoever. All they do is show off a little cleavage, and boom goes their popularity. People are naturally more attracted to content that is borderline sexual in nature, because the human brain is wired like this to survive in the past. This is especially a trend on places like Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and Twitch, where the most popular or trending content creators are often the ones who like to show-off their bodies for all the world to see.

Sadly, the internet is filled with these kinds of objective sexism, and it affects both men and women. The issue with this is that it promotes an idea of “sex commodification”, and can be very dangerous for the young ones who consume this type of content. It is an unfortunate fact that many content creators (vloggers, especially), act like stupid spoiled whores to get people’s attention. As a result, their loyal followers will end up trying to imitate the way they dress, speak, and act, all for the purpose of garnering people’s attention (and ad revenue, as a result). Monkey see, monkey do.

In the earlier years of social media, the innate stupidity of the general public became obvious when smartphones hit the mainstream. People have been doing all sorts of gimmicks for online attention like posting photos of themselves drinking coffee at Starbucks, wearing hypebeast clothing, posing as if they were models, subtly flexing their branded bags, watches, accessories and other acts of ego-centric/narcissistic behavior. It seems as if the default meta-tagline for posting on social media is “this is my life, I want you to be jealous”. Fast forward now to the start of the decade 2020s, and we still see glimpses of “influencer culture” where people want to act like stupid spoiled whores for attention on the internet.

One of the stupidest things I’ve ever seen on Instagram was a congressman’s wife posting a picture of a tandem bicycle that has the Louis Vuitton monogram painted all over it. Apparently a bike like that was worth 10,000 US dollars, yet she still had the audacity to brag about it while her country and countrymen are falling into economic crisis and going hungry amidst a global health pandemic. Talk about lack of empathy right? Instead of purchasing a “Louis Vuitton bike”, she could’ve translated that 10,000 dollars into economic aid for the sick, hungry and homeless.

It pretty much goes without saying that people who usually use social media to post the best parts of their lives are some of the most insecure people in the whole world. In their minds, it isn’t enough that “I” know about it, everyone in the world needs to know about it as well. People like this come from a place of deep emotional neglect, or have suffered from a lack of love from the people close to them, which is why they turn to social media as a vice to gain a sense of acknowledgement that they have been hungry for their entire lives. This topic will be discussed more in depth in a coming chapter.

Below is a list of some subtle signs on a person’s insecurities manifesting themselves through social media habits. Take some time to reflect on these bullet points and see if they apply to you, or someone you know.

• Constantly posts about their achievements
• Acts like a model and posts vain photos of self
• Likes to “show-off” and flaunt the things they own.
• Likes to flaunt their “perfect” romantic relationship thru scripted photos
• Focuses more on taking pictures rather than taking in the moment while travelling
• Likes to take scripted photos and pretend like they’re “candid”.
• Posts random things just for the sake of posting something.

To add to this, let’s do a thought experiment:

If you suddenly lose all your followers on your personal (not business) social media account right now, how much would it impact you as a person?

If you feel as if the pain is excruciating, then you obviously have some self-esteem issues. On the other hand, if your reaction goes something along the lines of “I don’t really care, as long as I have my pictures for memory keepsake, then I’m good”, then it is obvious that you are in control of your social media and not the other way around.

A Rebuttal to the Self-Expression Argument

“No Man is an Island” is a popular phrase thrown around. We, human beings naturally desire to be able to express our thoughts , emotions and ideas without suppression. For the past few thousand years or so, people did this through creating music, art, architecture, meaningful conversation and so on. Now, technology has offered us a myriad of new ways to do this.

Cutting to the chase, if someone truly believes that he/she can’t survive without social media, then there is an immediate red flag. Back around two decades ago, people do not straight-up die just because they couldn’t post their shit on Instagram every time they travel. They just stood there, enjoyed the moment and take a maybe one or two shots using their Kodaks and Polaroids.

You do not need social media to survive, and if you feel you do, its either you have no meaningful connections in your life, suffer an state of narcissistic/ condescending nature or have self-esteem and validation issues. If you want to express yourself, why not do it in real life to the people close to you instead of reaching for your phone, and waiting for that affirming comment that “everything’s gonna be okay”.

Instead of ranting to a crowd of compulsive scrollers on Facebook, why not talk to your parents, close friends and romantic partner about your problems?

Ending Note

Social media is excellent as a news, humanitarian, business and art distribution tool, but the only downside is the narcissistic behavior it fosters.

Confidence comes from a state of understanding that all human beings are stupid (including you), and that is what creates beauty in the experience of life. Confidence does not come from funny comments, likes, views or reactions.