The gap between rich and poor is a ticking time bomb
The feature allows you to upload a reel of photos and videos taken throughout the day. They disappear after 24 hours, unless you choose to save them as a highlight. The content uploaded to your stories is separate from your main Instagram feed. The same goes for Facebook Stories.
There’s something fascinating about stories, even if they show something incredibly simple and mundane. They offer a much more relatable insight into the daily lives of the people you follow.
Scrolling through your news feed on social media is a compulsion that many people give in to several times a day. When you're waiting in line or itching for a momentary distraction at work, it seems like your phone is in your hand and you've opened Instagram without even realizing it. It's becoming a reflex!
Stories are one of the more recent features on Facebook and Instagram. Research is showing that these quick, fleeting updates have an even greater draw than the usual endless stream of posts. There's something about those little glowing circles that are so inviting. What is it that makes us want to binge a dozen stories from people we often barely know as if it's a Netflix series? Click through this gallery to find out.
Instagram launched its Stories feature in 2016 and within the first year it had 150 million users. Six months later that number had doubled.
Dopamine is supposed to be released to reinforce behaviors that are essential for the survival of the human race, like eating and procreating. Unfortunately, there are many stimulants in modern life that cause the release of dopamine, but aren’t necessarily good for us. These include activities like gambling, video gaming, and using social media.
Instagram Stories use a practice called persuasive design. This is when psychology is combined with the design to have the maximum influence on human behavior. It makes apps and products more engaging, but also more addictive.
We tend to take more comfort in these little windows into reality. It makes us feel closer to other people because we’re designed to feel good when we can relate to others. Photoshopped perfection tends to have the opposite effect: it makes us feel threatened.
The transience of a story makes it a lot easier for the user to share something more authentic and less manicured. A lot more thought and care usually goes into a permanent post that will stay on your feed, and contribute to the overall aesthetic of your page.
A story, on the other hand, will disappear after 24 hours. This allows us to feel safer and be more open. It’s a clever idea that was also used by Snapchat back in the day. The idea that you could set a self-destruct timer on your content meant you could share almost anything without fear.
When it comes to social media, this might mean that we are compelled to post daily updates of our lives in order to reinforce our identities.
This makes creating stories a lot faster and more comfortable. It also makes them more enticing for the viewer. It feels different to scrolling through an Instagram feed filled with overly-curated photos and videos that share a glossy, glamorized version of life.
Psychiatrists report that children and adults of all genders say that they feel ashamed to post photos of themselves without filters. Filters make it so easy for us to compare what could be to what isn’t.
It’s fun to play with filters, but it’s also disconcerting to look at yourself and think “wow I look great,” and then remember you’ve airbrushed away half your facial features.
It might be a different story if stories were unfiltered, but unfortunately, there are many different filters on both Facebook and Instagram Stories, and they’re widely used.
That being said, the allure of stories goes beyond the standard compulsion to scroll through your feed. Something happens in stories that doesn’t happen in regular Instagram or Facebook posts.
The nature of social media and stories make it difficult to strike a healthy balance. They encourage binging and compulsive use. The first step to get this under control is to become aware of the impact it has on you.
This kind of unrealistic content can leave you feeling bad about yourself.
A sociologist named Charles Cooley came up with the Looking-Glass Self theory in 1902. It suggests that we build our sense of self by observing how others perceive us. The obvious problem here is that the way we think other people see us is often completely wrong.
There are many positives to be taken from social media. We can connect with others to a certain degree, find inspiration, and learn new things. We just need to keep an eye on how it’s making us feel. Instagram and Facebook stories, and social media in general, are unlikely to go away any time soon, so it’s down to us to get the most value out of them.
See also: The positive side of social media
If you feel embarrassed about sharing a drunken story of your 2 am McDonald’s order, just remember that it might have made someone else feel a little better!
The danger with this false sense of connection is the feeling that it can replace real-life connection. But it can’t replace speaking to and spending time with loved ones, who give us a truer sense of fulfilment.
Why are Facebook and Instagram Stories so addictive?
We just love tapping those little circles!
LIFESTYLE Social media
Scrolling through your news feed on social media is a compulsion that many people give in to several times a day. When you're waiting in line or itching for a momentary distraction at work, it seems like your phone is in your hand and you've opened Instagram without even realizing it. It's becoming a reflex!
Stories are one of the more recent features on Facebook and Instagram. Research is showing that these quick, fleeting updates have an even greater draw than the usual endless stream of posts. There's something about those little glowing circles that are so inviting. What is it that makes us want to binge a dozen stories from people we often barely know as if it's a Netflix series? Click through this gallery to find out.