Since I have been on vacation this week, I have been understandably taking pictures at every chance I can get. Just earlier today I was looking through the photos I wanted to post on to my Instagram, a process I’m sure most if not all of you are familiar with. Not only did I notice that I took more than a few minutes to actually choose what picture/pictures I wanted to post, but I got stuck at the comment section. My thought process was like should I post this one…it definitely screams beach-time…but how about this other one…it shows off how close I am with my siblings…but then this other one actually has all of us looking good in it…if I post that one Kaylee (my younger sister) would kill me… And so on.
After choosing a picture of myself and both my younger sisters riding in the car to our vacation destination (pictured below), I got absolutely stuck on the comment section. I was surprised more reasons than one. Usually, I don’t think too hard about it and just write something witty and click post. However, I was posting this after having read McCulloch’s chapter on conversation. The particular quote that made me pause and contemplate for the longest time was, “A post on social media doesn’t go through and editor, but when we know that hundreds or thousands of people may see it, it’s hard to say that we’re not editing ourselves at some level” (215).
In the end after an embarrassingly long time deliberating what I wanted to say about my sisters and I taking a selfie in the car on the way to our destination, I ended up with three heart emojis as my caption for the photo… I know, I took the easy way out and chose to use pictures to express what I was thinking in a way that however anyone interpreted it, it would not offend anyone or ruffle any feathers.
This was so relevant because it I somehow had an experience that combines the contents of the past two chapters we have read of McCulloch’s. I hadn’t realized how helpful emojis can be until this experience. Next time, I highly doubt I will take as long to decide what to post and what to caption it as. I wonder if any of you had experiences similar to mine?
Here's a pic of the post I ended up with (P.S. you guys are allowed to follow me if you would like 😊):
(Pictured left to right: Me, Kaylee, and Abby)
Works Cited: McCulloch, Gretchen. Because Internet: Understanding the new rules of language. Riverhead Books, 2019.
First: That picture is very sweet. And the caption seems perfect. Three sisters, three hearts.
ReplyDeleteSecond: I think about instagram posts a lot! I don't try very hard (or often) with mine and tend to be wordier when I caption stuff, but I am so intrigued and impressed by the curation some people put into theirs. Ally: once again this summer session, you've got me making connections between this desire for short, witty captions and poetry.(Not all poetry is short, but you get my point.) Like poetry, a caption (for some folks) is hard to do *because* it is short and creative. Very cool to think about!
Well the poetry connection came easy for me because I am also doing an Independent Study with Dr. Nixon this summer about poetry, so working so closely with it has definitely influenced my work in this class. I'm so glad I can inspire new ways of thinking about the material. It certainly has helped me think more about the writing process for all types of writing, not just for essays.
DeleteThis made me think of a multimodal class with a project of maintaining an instagram feed for the entire class. Thematic photos. Poetry in the captions. Would it be practical? Useful? Helpful? I have no idea but I know for a fact it'd be wild.
DeleteThat would be such an interesting thing to construct. I remember in high school my old English teacher had done a similar assignment where her students would create a social media post (Instagram or Twitter) about the book they were reading as a class, The Odyssey. That assignment resulted in some pretty cool and creative content. However, she did her assignment on paper rather than actual social media. This idea reminds me of what we did on Slack with Dr. Wenger last semester. I wonder if it’s possible and effective for classes like this one and Dr. Wenger’s tutoring class to incorporate social media more?
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DeleteThis fascinated me, because I don't use Instagram at all and was totally unfamiliar with the process! My friend is a real selfie-fiend, and the first time we hung out I got to experience her taking about 50 selfies to make sure she got a good one. To my surprise, she wasn't even only worried about herself--she wanted one in which all of us looked our best, and fiddled with angles, lighting, and timing, until she had the Perfect Selfie. Honestly I've never looked better in a photo, lol.
ReplyDeleteBut I had never considered the social ramifications of picture choice, or the eternal debate of what to caption (sounds like me when I'm trying to come up with chapter titles honestly). To be honest, as an old fogie, it surprised me to realize you were thinking about, essentially "what the audience would think," because I've never considered that while TAKING a picture... but those are for me, I don't post them anywhere, so of course I wouldn't, and of course you would! All very interesting, world-expanding stuff!
Yes, I agree. I think no matter what there are social pressures for us to “fit in.” I think this is why I take so many pictures, but don’t post many. Whether we like to admit it or not we’re always going to wonder what others think.
DeleteThat’s such a great point, Lee. Sometimes I do take photos with no concern about who will see them because I know those are just for me, like you have suggested. However, whenever I take pictures of other people or selfies with others I’m always at least thinking about how to best capture them as well as me so they like the picture at the end as well. In that way it certainly does seem like we are always on some level thinking about what others think about us or will assume about us based on what we post, like Hannah has suggested.
DeleteI love that picture you all look like you’re having so much fun!
ReplyDeleteI also have the same issue where I overthink what pictures to post. Honestly, it’s been months since I had posted an Instagram picture because of this exact reason. Every time I go to post I won’t know what picture to choose or what caption to write, so I end up just canceling it out and not posting.
I think whether we like to admit it or not we are pressured by social trends and trying to be a part of them.
Thank you :). This pic was actually one of about three different angles where Kaylee (middle) was making a funny face and this one was the after effects of us noticing that face, lol. I often find myself going through a similar process, so much so that I often go weeks or months without posting anything. But yes, I often think that I won’t post anything because nothing “interesting” has been happening to me to where I felt the need to post about it. But when you really think about it, since the account is mine and a profile documenting my life and what I care about, I can post literally anything I want.
DeleteLove the picture, Ally! <3
ReplyDeleteAnd your post made me think of back when I became really active on social media, it was after I had my daughters because that's what people do after they have kids, they brag about them. Anyway, I got a snazzy camera and started doing some photography on the side and taking LOTS of pics of my kids and posting them on social media with all sorts of cool little captions to go with them.
But soon, the kids started growing up and they weren't cute anymore so... j/k. They're still cute.
But in all seriousness, I noticed was how exhausting it was to just get a simple pic up on the internet without spending an hour trying to find the perfect one or come up with the perfect caption. So, long story short, I don't do that anymore.
And like you, I find that emojis often say exactly what I'm trying to convey, and sometimes better.
Thank you <3! I may not completely relate to your picture story, but I 100% know what you mean about how exhausting it is to pick out something to post. This is precisely the reason why I’m not as active on social media anymore. This is also the reason why I have started to write more simplistic comments (like the one above) than complex and witty ones. It just starting taking too much of my time to compose.
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