It’s hard work looking perfect for Instagram
As an Australian model quits the ‘fakeness’ of Instagram, Rebecca Pearson reveals the truth behind her own air-brushed life
Until last week, you might never have heard of Essena O’Neill; a bikini-toting, beach-leaping teen who, with more than 800,000 followers, was a bit of a star on Instagram, one of the world’s most popular social media sites. But when she switched off her account, decrying her life as a vapid popularity contest in which she no longer wished to compete, her story made headlines across the world.
By recaptioning some of her most liked posts to reveal the creative licence that went into the “perfect” photographs of her “perfect” life , the 19-year-old Australian model said she wanted to expose the artificial world of social media. After spending her teen years transforming her life into a polished, barely clothed, sun-kissed world, her followers would finally see the truth, she said. One photo had had to be taken more than 100 times to get it absolutely right, and in another she revealed that she was paid hundreds of dollars to wear a certain dress. She told how she would starve herself for days to get the perfect flat stomach, and a new caption under a smiling selfie ends with a disclaimer in upper case: “THERE IS NOTHING REAL ABOUT THIS”. Often, she said, she felt utterly alone. While some users applauded her honesty, other commentators called the whole thing a hoax, a clever marketing ploy whereby Essena was simply making herself (and her new website) even more famous.
It’s a sorry tale for a platform that started out simply as a means to share and discover experiences through photographs; where users can “like” another person’s picture to show their appreciation for a beautiful image, before scrolling on to the next shot. Instagram was launched five years ago and today has more than 400 million users, which is probably why it is a behemoth of self-promotion, where the more likes a person has, the more earning power they have.
It may be hypocritical of me to criticise Instagram, because for the past year or so, like Essena, I have been heavily promoting myself and chasing those likes, too. But as a model and blogger with my own website to push, I was forced to join the circus: it was that or lose out on work, as clients will always book the model with the bigger following. Mine’s growing, but it’s woefully low at 2,400, compared to mega-stars like Kendall Jenner (40.4 million). To get my numbers up, I have to post daily feelgood shots that (supposedly) let people in on my everyday life. The more aspirational, the better: workouts, behind the scenes on shoots, and holiday snaps of me looking great somewhere exotic are the aim of the game. What my followers will never see are the hours spent typing at my desk in a dressing gown or snivelling into a hankie, feeling sorry for myself. At least I try to counteract the smuggest shots with a healthy dose of humour.
However, I often resent it. Plundering my own life, 24/7, for posts can feel invasive – although I am aware that I am the one invading my own privacy. I find the fact that social currency and potential employability is now being based on a bunch of likes from random strangers as depressing as the next person. I’d love to just be free of the obligation, but at least I have a certain detachment from it all.
I’m old enough to remember there being one computer in my primary school (wheeled into the classroom with great ceremony!), so I do have a built-in reality check. Younger users, however, often appear to be emotionally attached to their smartphones and it worries me that being constantly pelted with unattainable, airbrushed lies is starting to make them feel terrible about their own realities. So, to address the balance, here are some ofmy own truths behind those “perfect” shots that have appeared onmy Instagram feed.
1 Holidays are the perfect chance to amass a bank of shots for Instagram. A lot of models do this, as we can dig them out during work droughts to remind clients that we still exist. On this particular holiday in Zakynthos last year, I roped in my poor boyfriend, Theo, as my official photographer, and meticulously planned the shots I would take each day. For this post, I pictured myself “spontaneously leaping”. What you don’t see is me getting increasingly irate with my patient boyfriend for “not taking it seriously”. Half an hour and 300 pictures later, we got this shot. I knew how ridiculous I was being, and I hated myself a bit, but my career really does rest on those numbers. It did well for me, with 131 likes and comments.
2 This was posted when I was into doing yoga every day, and had been struggling to read Crime and Punishment, which I’m ashamed to say took me an entire year to finish. As a fun post, I decided to get a shot of me doing yoga, Dostoevsky in hand, with the hashtag #dostoyflexy.
I didn’t do any exercise on that day (nor did I ever smile like this while reading that book), I just donned the workout gear for the five minutes it took to take the photo. I didn’t post it straight away, because I decided it was a bit desperate, rather too revealing, and that the pun wasn’t funny or clever. However, I ended up posting it later, during a month when I didn’t have any work. A more truthful representation probably would have been a shot of me looking sad, eating peanut butter out of the jar, but that wouldn’t have got the 111 likes that this shot ended up getting.
3 This was taken on my last day on holiday in Greece. What you can’t see here is that my entire body was covered in a terrible heat rash. I’d developed it on day one. It received looks of pity and disgust wherever I went, and I was forced to keep out of the sun, every inch of my skin covered up. For Instagram, I’d briefly strip off and take the pictures from a good distance, so my blotchy red skin didn’t show.
4 My green juice picture. The drink in question (rhubarb, beetroot leaves, parsnip and kale) wasn’t actually such an appealing, verdant shade, but had more of a hempy appearance that fortunately I could tweak with an Instagram filter and airbrush. Shots of saintly looking food get followers, so the rest of us have to at least pretend to follow with avocados, coconut oil and whatever else we are blending in the Nutribullet. It’s not an amazing shot and I’d delete it, but it still gets likes from the #cleaneating brigade months after posting. After taking two sips, I heaved, threw it down the sink and had to make do with peanut butter on toast and some chocolate for dinner – a not-so-aspirational meal that I didn’t publicise.
5 This photo was taken to show off my trainers, purchased for the half marathon I’d signed up for. On capturing it, my boyfriend exclaimed: “Wow, your stomach flab has folded up to look like an eightpack!” Never mind that I don’t even have a one-pack – this was Instagram gold! Predictably, as so many people love a #fitspiration tag, I got tons of likes and comments like “ABS, GIRL!” and “WASHBOARD”, which made me feel a bit guilty. The actual run that followed this picture wasn’t very successful. I gasped my way through five miles, hating every moment. In the end I had to drop out of the marathon because my knees swelled up. No, I didn’t Instagram that picture either.