Instagram Honesty (3)

I enjoy social media; it's brilliant, clever and connects us all. It's also terrible, toxic and at times dangerous. I know a lot of people who go through phases of ‘detoxing’ now and again for self care reasons, and others who have actually deleted any themselves from every platform. Which is really quite sensible, when one thinks about it… 

But then I know folks who have made careers out of social media. This includes me. New job titles have come into being in the past few years at the most major companies and small businesses; places that suddenly need a social media presence and someone on hand to manage it. Then there are also the bloggers and ‘influencers’ (still hate that term), who are suddenly invaluable to brands and marketers, pushing products in #ad posts and live streaming comped events they’ve been invited to. 




I personally have found whole communities as well as individual friends online, over the years. To start with I was a tragic emo kid constantly switching up the autoplay music on my Myspace profile, desperate to prove I was cool and didn’t give a F*CK!!1! XD XD XD… then I became a Tumblr girl who reblogged everything from pop punk mash-ups to cute cats to the softest possible porn gifs, to moving quotes from wildly overrated YA books. I’ve also been a Facebook zombie, writing statuses in third person and stalking everyone within six degrees of separation. I’d say now I’m at my happiest as a self-professed Twitter addict, and Instagram lover. 


...wait… ‘lover’ may actually be too strong a word. Yes, I am quite obsessed with this particular platform, because it satisfies my need for pretty pictures and connection with complete strangers you might share something in common with, but… do I still ‘love’ it? 

Not as much as I used to, I don’t think. And that’s mostly because of what it’s become. A lot of people see it as a place to share their best photos and talk about only the good life experiences; somewhere negativity and, well, ‘real life’ isn’t welcome. This inevitably leads to envy, because you’re bound to have bad days, and when you’re under a dark cloud you’ll no doubt look on the app and see all those surrounding you supposedly living their best lives. That can be so crushing. It’s only in recent years I’ve got my head around the fact that social media – and Instagram in particular – is just a highlights reel. And you never know what's happening behind the scenes. 

So in the spirit of being real, I’ve posted a couple of times in the past year or so with posts from my Instagram and captioned them, on here, completely honestly. Full disclaimer, though: this was NOT my idea originally. I saw the babe Hannah Witton do it once, and was inspired to give it a try myself. 


So, here are a few of my latest posts containing unseen fibs or just flat out omissions. Enjoy… 



You’d think I’d be used to having photos taken by now, and yes, I am almost always comfortable in front of a camera. But when these were taken I was on the verge of burnout, and I think you can see how lost I was when I ‘relaxed’ my face for this snap. Also, I’m stupidly self-conscious about how much the swollen side of my face STILL sticks out and it’s so obvious from that angle… but then, I also weirdly love this photo? God, that James is a good one. 




I felt a little unlike me while having these photos taken with my beautiful pal Erin, just because instead of the usual creative mischief we get up to (which can involve putting up washing lines in the woods, wading through ponds in a ballgown and stripping off awkwardly in front of her cats) we had a specific goal in taking these photos; to highlight a couple of things I’d been #gifted by a brand. I feel like it would have been more natural and fun if the items had been things I’d truly wanted... I've learned my lesson. I'll only collab with brands I know and love, in the future! 



I was low key horrified at myself for posting a cute photo of someone I quite like, and risking embarrassment if it didn’t work out – let alone with Taylor lyrics in the caption that I genuinely felt related perfectly to him and our exciting new relationship. Eww, feelings...!? 




I actually took this photo AGES ago. I know that’s often the case with Instagram; people plan their posts weeks in advance with barely any wiggle room for the fresher stuff, while others simply forget and batch post later, in a frantic ‘catch up’ kinda style. Well, this was the latter (hehe). I literally scrolled back through my camera roll, found this and thought ‘hey, that’s cute. Why didn’t I post it?’ and posted it. Then my Winchester-based pals were suddenly in my DMs, asking if I was still there and why hadn’t I told them I was visiting!? Oops…  

Oh also, in the caption for this post I promised I’d be ‘relaunching my newsletter soon’. It’s been 5 weeks, and this still has not happened yet. Oops again. 



I wrote very honestly in the caption of this post that I was having a bad brain day, and planned to break up the black cloud by dressing up a bit, and going on a seafront walk. What I didn’t disclose is that I was actually going on a… third date, I think it was? With the man who is now my partner. And later that day, I went back to his place for the first time… just to meet his 6 adopted cats and have a cup of tea, obviously. Totally. 


Now, let's finish with a juicy one… 



I originally sent this photo to the aforementioned boyfriend, saying ‘your girlfriend felt cute, you’re welcome’. Then I realised it was SO cute, and so #bodyposi, I had to share it with everyone.  

So, there you have it. Some little snippets of my life behind the grid. I hope you enjoyed, and that it maybe inspired you to be more honest when posting about your lives, online. Comment below or tweet me with any opinions or anecdotes or tips or ANYTHING!


Comments

  1. I love these posts. Weirdly I think they work better as blogs than they would even if you included the "real" captions on Instagram, because we all scroll so quickly that we wouldn't read them properly in the quest to double-tap. Also the algorithm hates me and I tend to only see your latest photos when I click over after reading your blog. Which I'm about to do now.

    Your boyfriend has cute arms.

    xx

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