My camera – my proof that I actually do cool stuff – left me this summer to stay in Duluth on a camping trip. Only after quite a few tears and the realization that I can no longer edit the perfect pictures to frame anymore, I got over my loss. Coming back to school, though, brought back the phenomenon of pretty much every college girl’s focus: Facebook pics.
All of last year, I looked at pictures that my friends were posting to see all the fun they seemed to be having. A part of me would get slightly jealous… but then I would console myself by posting pictures of my own friends and experiences. This battle-of-the-girls is seen everywhere on Facebook: who can seem the most popular and fun through FB photo albums. This trend basically makes the more pics tagged of you equivalent to the more friends you have and the more popular you are.
Being sans camera this year has left me with zero posts on Facebook but also with a realization: I am having a great time this year. I’ve met a lot of new people, danced at parties, caught up with classmates, and eaten out for dinners. None of it is recorded in film, but that doesn’t make any of it less real or exciting!
Note: he has no friends helping him.
This constant need to be taking pictures of our experiences instead of actually living them out is, what I think, a flaw of the digital age. Having a picture of something does not make it any more legitimate, no matter what our digital culture tells us.
However, many people buy into this culture. With the increased pictures on social media, a distance has grown between people – even those sharing the same experiences. Instead of talking to someone, we have to “like, totally get a pic together!!”. And instead of discussing the highs and lows of our day with a close friend, we feel the need to shorten them down to 140 characters for no one in particular to see.
This loss of real person-to-person interaction is creating a distance between people. Being friends on Facebook seems more real than being friends outside of it. “Proof” of having fun via pictures on social media seems to legitimize experiences and increase popularity.
Living camera-less this year, I’ve come to learn that Facebook is just another place where girls enjoy one-upping each other. Just because I don’t have photographic evidence of my year does not mean I’m not having a good one. I prefer memories of real interactions with my friends over online, text-filled ones any day.
Sing, Sing, Sing 