Whether you will admit it or not, social media has become an overwhelmingly present part of our lives. Whether this is good or bad I will not say, but I have definitely noticed its influence in my life and in my friends' lives. Every fun outing with friends requires a mini photoshoot in order to get the perfect Instagram photo. The coolest people have the coolest Instagram feed/ most followers/ most likes. And that is just the beginning of it. After a while it just gets tiring. A few months ago, I started my own food Instagram (foodstagram) account. Since starting the account, my outlook on social media changed, and I began to enjoy it again. Here is how my "foodstagram" changed my view of social media.
The Before
I have a love/hate relationship with Instagram. I love being able to stay updated with my friends, but I hate how much work it is and how much emphasis we put on it. In my own humble opinion, I think that as social media becomes more and more a part of our lives, it becomes less and less enjoyable. It seems that it has become more of a competition of who can look the coolest and it has taken away the fun of social media and made it more like a chore. When we all started on Instagram, there was no such thing as a "social media influencer" or an "Instagram model." It was a big deal when you hit 100 followers, and then 100 likes. Instagram was for good times with friends and random silly posts about life. Now don't get me wrong, I love social media as much as the next person, but it definitely gets tiring after a while.
Before I began my own journey with my food Instagram, I had lost a lot of the interest I had once had in social media. For the most part I rarely checked my "rinsta" (personal main Instagram account) and scrolled through my "finsta" (Instagram accounts where people post frequently with limited followers) feed a few times a day. When I got to college I got involved with the Spoon University chapter at my school (shoutout Spoon BC!) and that was where the idea of having a foodstagram began.
The "Foodstagram"
At the first meeting I went to as an official Spoon University member, we went to an event at school with a panel of "Instagram food influencers." The panel featured some of the people behind the most popular Boston food Instagram accounts, and they gave advice about starting and running a food account. This experience got the wheels turning in my head and piqued my interest in potentially starting a food account of my own.
After a few months of taking pictures of every meal I ever ate (sorry to the people I made wait to eat until I took pics) and finding all the food pictures I had ever taken (a LOT), I finally started my own account @justspooninaround.
Because this is something that I truly enjoy, I'm just in it for fun and for myself. It doesn't matter how many likes I get, or how many people follow me because I am having fun with it. Instead, this is just a hobby of mine where I can share some of the cool food pictures I take with my friends. Through this account I have been able to interact with other people (from all around the country!) who have this same passion, and I have compiled a HUGE list of places that I want to try. This account has also encouraged me to step outside my comfort zone. Now when I go out to eat, instead of going to my favorite places and ordering my favorite meal all the time, I love venturing out and trying new places and new dishes.
My foodstagram has been a way for me to share a talent I have (photography) and something I love (food) with my friends and my followers. I have also been able to meet new people and make new friends through Spoon and my foodstagram that share the same love and passion as me. My foodstagram has rekindled my enjoyment in the potential that Instagram has to connect people around the world and allow us to share our passions with one another. No matter how many or how few followers I have, the account is driven by sharing a passion of mine with other people, and that is all that really matters to me.