My tips to keep Insta-sane when your feed is filled with influencers leading lifestyles that seem to be perfect, by Rosa Fairfield
Photographs by Linda Smith
I love Instagram, both seeing other people's Instagram pictures and posting my own makes me very happy. Yet, I've been reading a lot of posts and comments where people have been saying Instagram is getting them down. Bellow I share my tips on how you can look at Instagram in a more positive light, if you are struggling with the App... but, at the end of the day, if Instagram just isn't for you, then don't use it, you should always put your personal wellbeing first.
Instagram is about photography
Instagram is about photography and photography is an art form. It's about creating something visually pleasing and about how someone sees the world around them. Therefore, you have to step back from it and realise that it isn't real life, just a person's perception of it, the same way a movie is.
Instagram just shows the good parts
Most people tend to just show the good parts of their life on their Instagram accounts and there is nothing wrong with that. If people were constantly posting pictures of them ill in bed with a cold or sitting at a desk looking bored, I think it would make me depressed.
There is no such thing as the Insta-perfect life
Perfect is different for everyone. Just because something you see is the perfect life to you, doesn't mean that it is the same for the next person. To me, the perfect life would be living on an alpaca farm in the middle of nowhere.
If you want something, find a way to get it
If you want someone's lifestyle on Instagram, instead of being jealous of it, see it as a goal to work towards. You can achieve anything if you work hard enough for it... and if you don't do everything possible to try and make it happen, then you don't want it enough. Then, in that case, you shouldn't complain about it.
Think 'them' not 'I'
When I was going through trouble with my self-esteem, a friend said to me, 'stop thinking about yourself, think about the other person.' It's true, when looking at the picture on Instagram, don't think: 'my hair isn't that pretty', think 'that girl's hair is pretty.' That way you get a positive mind-set instead of a negative one. Just because someone else is gorgeous or living an amazing lifestyle, that doesn't mean you aren't as well.
What are your top tips for staying Insta-sane? Please leave a comment, I would love to hear your thoughts.
