Do not fabricate moments for a photograph

Staff Ed | The Chronicle

The phone eats first. 

You jokingly say it as you swat your friends hands out of the frame of the photo. The food sits waiting on the table as you angle, capture, and edit a series of photos to add to your Instagram story. We have all been guilty of this, but why do we do it in the first place? 

Candid photos are on the decline. We talk about living in the moment, but actually doing so is more challenging than it seems. Instead of making plans for the experience or the memories, it is ingrained that we do not really live through a moment if we do not get the perfect photo. If we do not get the perfect photo, we cannot post about the moment, and if people do not get to see if the moment happened online, did it even happen? So the question is: are we really enjoying life’s moments, or are we just collecting them?  

Social currency, and the urge to have it, has ruined the views of the moments in our life. Influencers use social currency to show their relevance and accessibility to resources in a social setting through brand deals and collaborative posts. And when influencers post, we listen. Social currency and social influence have skyrocketed in value since the birth of social media, and it is not going anywhere. So rather than fighting it, we should simply equip ourselves with the skill of recognizing it.

We must learn to balance the ideas of “capturing the moment” while also “living in the moment”. It is hard, however, to fight the urge to post or take photos when you are dressed up and with friends. 

The pressure to post comes from the want to make your life more appealing to friends and followers. The more aesthetic your feed is, the more extravagant your life seems. Curating the perfect grid of photos on Instagram or posting TikToks with all your friends gives the public perception that you are happy or living your best life. Unfortunately, this parasocial relationship only highlights the good. A post isn’t going to show the fight you had with your friend over a Halloween costume or that the outfit you are wearing is borrowed. 

It is hard to judge the highlights of someone’s life without seeing what goes on behind the scenes. Someone might be struggling with feeling isolated, but when you see a photo of them with a group of friends, you perceive that everything is okay. The idea that we are being “fake” is more real than ever. A real personality can never be fully communicated through a screen and neither can a person’s struggles. 

Something to ponder is that the photos we take now are the reflection of our adolescent years which we will later look back on. In 30 years, we won’t care about the VSCO filter on an image or the perfectly smoothed over complexion. Real emotions, rather than aesthetics, are timeless. 

It is not that capturing the moment for memory’s sake is not important. No, in fact, it is very important. But there needs to be a limit to trying to style your life.  We should utilize photos as a way to remember a moment, not the reason for the moment to exist. Memories should be cherished through your phone, not collected on your feed. Events in your life should be genuine, not just curated for an Instagram grid.