The Social Millenialfly

I was just listening to a podcast the other day about how Instagram started. I laughed to myself thinking about when I first heard of Instagram and my first couple posts. Of course I had to post my new Nike high tops in the Nashville filter and my best friend's cat looked amazing in black and white, aka Inkwell. DO YOU REMEMBER THESE DAYS? When Instagram was a little caterpillar!

Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger launched a photo-sharing app they weren't even sure would be successful in 2010. Eight years ago people. They noticed there wasn't anything out there that only displayed photos - everything else like Twitter and Facebook were consumed by just words and a photo here and there. With the boom of better quality photos on phones, they wanted to express that "everyone could be a photographer." And just look at where Instagram is now. My favorite freaking app. I'm forever blown away by technology (side note - my dad thinks cell phones were created by aliens, not kidding). But actually. Do we ever think about how and why we post the things we do?

All those little squares tell a story about your life and it can be as genuine and real as you make it. Although most think the things we post on social media are always the highlights of our lives and doesn't really capture the true you - I call a bit of nonsense in that theory. I think the photos we post on Instagram are a way to reflect every way we find happiness. Whether it's photos of your fur babies, or your best friends, or your love for fashion - we should see it as a little portal to hold our precious memories and things that made us smile. Of course we can't be as happy as we look in every photo on our Instagram page, but when we're feeling down - I think it's a good tool to use to remind ourselves of how lucky we are.

Don't be too quick to compare your life to others. It's easy to do. But we need to remember that social media is not a game or competition - it's a way of expression. People are going to express what makes them feel most alive, their favorite things about themselves. You can follow whoever you choose! Personally, I follow people that not only post amazing photos, but also uplift others and find a way to relate to everyone in their captions.

So smile away, because this whole thing we call social media isn't going away in the near future. Let's all embrace what we can do with our social media page. Spread kindness, create that tipping effect. Embrace the millennial inside of you ~ take more photos ~ keep building your little portal of amazing moments. Post away butterfly!

Podcast: How I Built This with Guy Raz (check.it.out.)