Baym describes technological determinism as “machines changes us” (27), meaning that the technologies we chose to use develop our society’s ideologies and therefore our culture. Fischer explains technological determinism in regards to new technologies such as Instagram as something we get used by because we do not understand how influential it can be on us (29). I chose to use Technological Determinism because out of all four concepts this one best illustrated what Instagram means within our society and the exact influence it has within our ideologies. Claude Fischer describes technologies as changing history by transferring essential qualities to their users (29).
As Marshal McLuhan says “the medium is the message” meaning that whatever medium you chose to use will change what your message looks like (28). So in this case Instagram is a medium where you post pictures to show what you are doing or have done and who your friends are; it is kinda like a photo album. Since this medium is not about recreating your life and posting many pictures at once the picture you chose means everything. Instagram has completely changed the preexisting meaning and way of sharing pictures; the meaning of the photo no longer matters but instead what you look like in the picture is what truly matters. Instagram does not resemble real life but instead a small look into a life you want us to believe you live. Hymowitz choses the most favourable pictures of herself and uses filters such as black and white that accentuate her features best; therefore showing that as long as she looks good the picture will be good. This can be seen in the article Meet the Prom Queen of Instagram, “Are you out of your mind?” Nussdorf said, looking at the photos. “These are horrible.” “What are you talking about? That’s the best photo you’ve ever been a part of,” Hymowitz said. “Honestly, that’s your new prof”. Instagram allows Lilli to show only the most interesting and favourable parts of her life making it seem as though she has a more amusing life then you. Instagram is very different then other social media apps because in comparison to Facebook we post many pictures at one time showing a whole event whereas on Instagram we chose one photo that is suppose to represent your life at a certain time and therefore gets much more of a judgment. This judgement is particularly shown within Lilli’s Instagram because she is so popular within the social media world their would be a lot more of an anxiety about posting a picture and making it perfect for someone like her then an account that only has 100 followers. Each picture she post has to be as good as or better then the last and make her followers believe that her life is something to look up to and want to be like. Hymowitz brings up in the article that Big Sean and Drake are two of the only people she follows who do not follower her back shows that she is trying to get their attention and is concern of what people think when they view her account.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with what you said about how instagram has completely changed the pre-existing meanings and ways of sharing pictures. We have turned into a generation that is obsessed with likes on these instagram pictures of ours. I think what you said about how we can choose what side of us to show on instagram, really shows how we can cater our profiles to what we want all of our friends to think abouot us. Hymowitz’s instagram showed her more so cool, bad girl said, where as all of her friends agreed that who she portrayed herself as online was not who she really was in person.
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ReplyDeleteHi Dini,
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed this post as it accurately encompasses the influence of Instagram within our current era. Your McLuhan reference particularly resonated with me describing Instagram as a photo album. I agree, as it is in a sense a highly curated Facebook album which features fewer posts that usually receive more attention within the editing process. Furthermore, Instagram has also emerged as a platform to promote clothing and other products through the ability to tag companies within your own photos. As a result this changes the message within the medium.