Instagram is a program that allows its users to share original media content such as photographs and videos to a large group of other users instantaneously. As a result, there has become a fixation on getting as many “likes” on your posts as possible.
Within Generation Z, the amount of “likes” one receives on their photos and videos has become a symbol of popularity. The more likes on a post, the greater the social status of the user.
Infatuated by likes
With the infatuation on gaining the most amount of “likes” comes the creation of strategies on how one should do so. Generation Z, above all others, has perfected their use of Instagram and focuses every post to be optimized in order to receive likes. Most users, rather than show the monotony of everyday life, only post content from the most exciting things that they do and places that they go in order to create an illusion that their life is far more thrilling than it truly is.
Insta-Trip
For instance, if you were to scroll through the Instagram page of the average Generation Z user, I am willing to bet you will find that most of their photos will be from trips that the user has taken or special events that the user has attended such as weddings or birthdays. Personally, this past summer I travelled to Tanzania with my family, and my Instagram features four posts just from this trip. Alongside this, I include photos of when I have been scuba diving, skydiving, skiing, etc...all with the goal of making my Instagram portray my best life. Most members of Generation Z format their Instagrams with the same goal in mind as me.
Source of entertainment
Along with using Instagram to increase their social status, Generation Z also uses the platform as a means of entertainment and killing time. There are many Instagram accounts in which the sole purpose is producing and posting media that is amusing for other users. This media often times are photos that have some sort of joke or caption written about them or amusing videos of people doing things. Whenever I am bored, I often find myself going through accounts that post this kind of media in order to entertain myself and kill some time. Since smartphones are so readily accessible, Instagram provides a source of entertainment whenever and wherever you are.
Generation Z
As of now these are the two greatest ways in which Instagram is used by Generation Z, however, with technological advancements and shifts in trends, Instagram is constantly releasing new features and continues to grow and expand. There is no telling how the use of the platform may change moving forward, however, as of now the primary uses of the application are to increase one’s social status and to be able to constantly entertain oneself.
Written by Nick Giordano
