Social media is changing outdoor culture – for the better

The subject of Instagram cropped up a couple of times in the January issue of The Great Outdoors. In his opening editorial, Carey Davies touched on the way it can foster unrealistic ideas of what the mountains are like (although he confessed that magazines like this one may be guilty of the same), while Norman Hadley bemoaned the proliferation of brightly coloured tents in the hills (Readers’ page) and the sense that what looks good on social media is being increasingly prioritised over what blends into the landscape.

I have some sympathy for both of these views, and it’s increasingly obvious that social media can have a corrosive effect on mental health and self-esteem. But I have also noticed positive things happening on social media.

It seems to me that the culture around the outdoors is increasingly changing as a younger generation comes through, often bringing new ideas and a different sensibility with them. Naturally, this generation uses social media platforms a lot more, and the likes of Instagram and YouTube are full of younger outdoor enthusiasts who often have tens of thousands of followers, despite having no broader profile in any other kind of media.

You can find all the usual pitfalls of Instagram here, but what I’ve also noticed is that this generation, for the most part, has a different approach to the outdoors – often more diverse, more inclusive, and more supportive of each other than may have been the case with previous generations.

The same habits are there – Munro-bagging, Wainwright-ticking etc – but the tone is somehow different – less stuffy, less elitist, more focused on fun and enjoyment than notions of achievement or venerability. To my mind, that’s a good thing.

I’m sure this is not lost on TGO, as in recent times I noticed the magazine work with or feature younger figures who have built large, positive profiles on social media, like Iona Andean, Rhiane Fatinikun and James Forrest, to name a few. I hope some of the magazine’s longer-term readers will be responsive to these new voices.

Andrew Duncan