Before I sat down to write this, I googled “Fake Vacations” expecting to see a stream of cynical opinions and exposés on the topic. Worryingly, the top result was everything that is currently wrong with the world – I was hit with a website called Fake A Vacation, which allows you to sit on your sofa and pay someone to photoshop you into an image at Disneyland – or Hawaii – depending on the ‘vacation package’ you book. For real. Yes, we actually live in this world now.
A few months back, I posted a photo on Instagram from my Bali Swing experience to share the reality behind some of these travel moments, and I was incredibly surprised to see just how many people didn’t know these truths. Then, just a few weeks ago, I read Polina Marinova‘s revelation on the #GatesOfHeaven in Bali and it trended, which is when I realised that (1) not even I had gauged the extent of what goes on – despite my cynicism, and (2) there really is a lack of awareness and real talk when it comes to travel and social media. So, this got me thinking…
Has Instagram revolutionised or ruined travel?
In many ways, Instagram has played a key role in revolutionising travel:
- The social platform allows you to connect with like-minded people. We all have our preferred holiday types and travel experiences, so if you’re using Instagram to connect for purpose and not to subconsciously fuel feelings of envy, your online community can lead you to discover places and experiences that you didn’t even know existed. It can be the motivation you need to step out of the confines of comfort and book a trip to a place you wouldn’t have otherwise considered. It can take you a little further and bring you a little deeper into the culture of a country rather than booking the cliché beach getaway to the “nice beach with sunshine and all-inclusive cocktails”.
- For many, Instagram has also increased the pace at which we can plan our travels or vacations. Gone are the days where you have to sift through travel guides* that you bought in a bookstore or Google the answers to all your pre-trip curiosities; we now live in an age where people plan on the ‘gram. You can pick a location, browse specific hashtags and quickly ‘save’ a budget-friendly boutique hotel or a local restaurant for authentic Phô or a bucket-list experience that you’ll conveniently be driving past. You can efficiently store the knowledge at your fingertips and formulate a bespoke travel guide while you’re sitting in the airport waiting to board the flight.
- We should probably also thank Instagram for allowing the rise of the small guys… all those who own businesses that we would possibly have never discovered before they had access to free marketing via Instagram. No longer are travel opinions restricted to the subjective guide books you buy, and no longer are they manipulated by the big companies who can afford to pay Google for the top spot for “best hotel in…”. Instagram has allowed for local people to create profitable, home-grown businesses while also promoting underrated or undiscovered destinations that, in turn, boost tourism to their country.
On the flip side of this, Instagram is the reason why many people complain about places that are overly commercialised or ‘too touristy’. It is, more commonly, the reason why people come back from a hard-earned holiday, which has cost them their hard-earned cash, feeling disappointed because it didn’t live up to the expectations that Instagram laid out. Now, if we are to poke fingers, the fault lies more-so with Instagram users rather than the platform per se.
- Travel Influencers have created a follow-me culture where people plan their vacations and travels around the most Instagrammed places in the world where you can get ‘that shot’. The problem here being that people genuinely do follow them to these locations around the world… and feel utterly disappointed until they post that one shot to Instagram that masks the reality, makes others envious, and momentarily deludes them into thinking they were having the #BestTimeEver.
- There are businessmen and women taking full advantage of Instagram insecurities by creating businesses that can fake travel experiences, such as the Private Jet Studio, a phenomenon that sees people paying extortionate amounts of money to have a photographer create the illusion that they live this #PrivateJet lifestyle. Now, you might be thinking “more fool them”, but when you look at what’s really at play here, we need to be talking about the psychology that sits at the core of the problem.
- As a social experiment, London based YouTuber George Mason tricked his followers into thinking he had taken a trip around Europe by photoshopping himself into the images he posted on Instagram… and they didn’t even question it. Why? Because we live in a world where technology makes it possible to distort your reality – or even distort yourself – in seconds using an app on your smartphone.
Why do you travel?
The real question we need to be asking ourselves more often is: ‘Why do you travel?’
Be honest with yourself; if your vacation or travel plans are steering towards those Instagram-worthy hotspots around the world, then it might be time to reevaluate or, at the very least, dig further to find out a little bit more about where you are going.
For those who genuinely are passionate about travel and do like to share a summary shot on Instagram (which is most of us), we need to be more socially aware and responsible. Be mindful of the fact that there are tens, hundreds, maybe even thousands of people who plan a trip to the place where you snapped that photo and conveniently failed to mention the reality of it. Be transparent. And remember that, for all those misguided people, there are an equivalent number sat at home, enviously scrolling through Instagram, because they can only ever dream of being able to afford to travel to a place like that – never knowing the reality behind the perfectly-filtered shot.
*FYI: I really do like to rustle between the pages of a travel guide; they are great reference points for learning about a place rather than just ‘going’ to a place. I also like to use the ‘notes’ pages to jot down a journal from my trips because some day in the future it will be nice to pull them from the shelf or pass them on. Lonely Planet (the hard copies) have been guiding me around the world since 2008; I think I have an affinity to them because of the pre-social media travel era I am lucky enough (or old enough – you decide) to have experienced.
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