What I Learned After Posting On Instagram For Five Days | The Odyssey Online
Start writing a post
Student Life

What I Learned After Posting On Instagram For Five Days

Lessons learned from social media challenges.

8
What I Learned After Posting On Instagram For Five Days
Pixabay

After snapping and posting for five days straight, I learned a few things about my followers and myself. It was difficult to take a few moments out of my hectic lifestyle to post something remotely creative or interesting. Unfortunately, I didn’t become Instagram famous overnight. I’ll have to put in some more work into designing my feed for that goal to happen. Now my five-day challenge is forever part of my Instagram feed, live for everyone to see.

My Instagram is rather personal, my account is on private and I mostly post mirror selfies (what can I say, I love my outfits). Almost all of my followers are people I have gone to school with or genuinely know. It’s safe to say, that those who follow me only get to see what I look like and what are some cool things happening in my life. This challenge pushed me out of my social media comfort zone and forced me to share content that was appealing to me.

Like always, I spend a good amount of time making the proper edits to my photo. Everything has to be good, the lighting, the size, the shadows, and the filter have to be perfect for my feed. But this time I learned that by editing my photo even in the slightest way, it was no longer my photo. Yes, the edits may have added to my picturesque shot of the beach and hid my breakouts in selfies but those photos were no longer real. This whole time I realized that I had been sharing content that had been retouched and almost made to look better than the original photo.

Most of the time I think about my followers before I post a pic and I worry if they would even bother to like or comment on my photo. I’ve learned that this is a very unrealistic “worry.” If I claim to have a personal Instagram, it should be just that. I’ve learned to post pictures that are true to my life and they make me genuinely happy to share with everyone. It’s a bummer to get fewer likes on a photo and even lose followers, but social media can be fun and you should enjoy sharing.

Let’s be real, we all dream of becoming Insta-famous but the amount of work that must go into it is scary. I only posted for five days straight and I immediately needed a break. I’m not saying this because I’m lazy and can’t take a simple photo and hit the post button. The hardest part is experiencing something special enough to photograph it. On days in which I stayed home and watched Netflix all day it was difficult to create content and I wound up posting boring pictures that I personally didn’t even like. I now have a newfound respect for those who have created careers by posting daily on Instagram.

A weekly challenge is always healthy. You’ll come out with new lessons and a greater appreciation for life. My biggest takeaways after posting for five days straight were to worry less about my followers, always be secure about myself, and find creativity everywhere. I can truly say that this experience has helped me boost my Instagram confidence and has helped me enjoy photographing my experiences and breathtaking views as opposed to my typical mirror selfies.

Report this Content
This article has not been reviewed by Odyssey HQ and solely reflects the ideas and opinions of the creator.
Gilmore Girls
Hypable

In honor of Mother’s Day, I have been thinking of all the things my mom does for my family and me. Although I couldn’t write nearly all of them, here are a few things that moms do for us.

They find that shirt that’s right in front of you, but just you can’t seem to find.

Keep Reading...Show less
Relationships

10 Reasons To Thank Your Best Friend

Take the time to thank that one friend in your life you will never let go of.

1245
Thank You on wooden blocks

1. Thank you for being the one I can always count on to be honest.

A true friend will tell you if the shirt is ugly, or at least ask to borrow it and "accidentally" burn it.

2. Thank you for accepting me for who I am.

A best friend will love you regardless of the stale french fries you left on the floor of your car, or when you had lice in 8th grade and no one wanted to talk to you.

Keep Reading...Show less
sick student
StableDiffusion

Everybody gets sick once in a while, but getting sick while in college is the absolute worst. You're away from home and your mom who can take care of you and all you really want to do is just be in your own bed. You feel like you will have never-ending classwork to catch up on if you miss class, so you end up going sick and then it just takes longer to get better. Being sick in college is really tough and definitely not a fun experience. Here are the 15 stages that everyone ends up going through when they are sick at college.

Keep Reading...Show less
kid
Janko Ferlic
Do as I say, not as I do.

Your eyes widen in horror as you stare at your phone. Beads of sweat begin to saturate your palm as your fingers tremble in fear. The illuminated screen reads, "Missed Call: Mom."

Growing up with strict parents, you learn that a few things go unsaid. Manners are everything. Never talk back. Do as you're told without question. Most importantly, you develop a system and catch on to these quirks that strict parents have so that you can play their game and do what you want.

Keep Reading...Show less
friends
tv.com

"Friends" maybe didn’t have everything right or realistic all the time, but they did have enough episodes to create countless reaction GIFs and enough awesomeness to create, well, the legacy they did. Something else that is timeless, a little rough, but memorable? Living away from the comforts of home. Whether you have an apartment, a dorm, your first house, or some sort of residence that is not the house you grew up in, I’m sure you can relate to most of these!

Keep Reading...Show less

Subscribe to Our Newsletter

Facebook Comments