Travel on Social Media

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You might enjoy your trip more if you aren’t always scanning for that Instagram-worthy shot. You may notice things you might have otherwise missed. You might realize you’re really having fun with your family doing xyz right now. You might interact more with your family or the locals.
Travels are about getting away. This is harder to do if you’re always thinking how amazing this shot will look on my FB page to my followers.
That’s all some of us are saying.

+1. Sadly they have no clue.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Clearly the problem is with those of you who have a problem with it. Just get off social media and let people share what they want there.

Right? I truly don't understand people who stay on social media and then complain and judge what people post. If you don't like it, stop following people or get off social media.

I stay on social media because I enjoy seeing people's kids, travels, experiences. That's what I'm there for.

I like to see my friends’ kids, food pics and travel. Yes, some people have braggy posts and some are kind of boring. Just keep scrolling. No big deal. A lot of places added to my travel wish lists are from friend’s posts. If someone posts something that looks delicious, I will want to check it out.

That’s part of the problem though. Social media is leading to some places becoming absolutely swamped with over tourism. You see a friend post about a place, and then you decide you just HAVE to go there. Key examples in recent years: Portugal and Iceland. Without social media, they would be the pleasant places they were when we went 20 years ago. Now we avoid them. Oh well, there are many other places in this world.

LOL. You were country before country was cool!

(Pro-tip: I remember the cheap flights to Iceland 30 years ago … so long before your time Iceland was aggressively marketing itself as a tourist destination. I went then and I went again last year and aside from some improved infrastructure couldn’t tell much difference, so not sure why you think it became some hellscape tourist trap. Other than you seem to view collecting destinations like they’re some sort of precious commodity. I am going to hazard a guess that you also put a lot of contorted thought into naming your children— they had to have a “unique” name that wouldn’t get too popular, less they become … shudder … common).

Yes, I remember those flights too. Don’t fool yourself, Iceland is much different today. And no, our children have classic family names to answer your question.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You might enjoy your trip more if you aren’t always scanning for that Instagram-worthy shot. You may notice things you might have otherwise missed. You might realize you’re really having fun with your family doing xyz right now. You might interact more with your family or the locals.
Travels are about getting away. This is harder to do if you’re always thinking how amazing this shot will look on my FB page to my followers.
That’s all some of us are saying.

It’s just weird how some of you think you absolutely cannot in any way enjoy your trip or being with your family if you post a picture to Instagram too. Like that’s actually ludicrous.

And you’re like actually gauche.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Clearly the problem is with those of you who have a problem with it. Just get off social media and let people share what they want there.

Right? I truly don't understand people who stay on social media and then complain and judge what people post. If you don't like it, stop following people or get off social media.

I stay on social media because I enjoy seeing people's kids, travels, experiences. That's what I'm there for.

I only have about 8 followers. I am not doing it to brag. It is a way to stay in touch with family and friends who live far away. I like to see their pictures too. I think the people complaining about this are very mean-spirited and envious.

Not envious so much, just smug maybe. It’s because we go better places quietly, yet have to watch you carry on about your pedestrian trips. It’s like shopping at luxury stores yet hearing someone brag about their Target finds. You get it, don’t you?

No, you are the smug snob. You don't think travel is worthy unless it's expensive? Wow. Major snob.

Not expensive necessarily, just more cultured than all the drivel I typically see on this board.

So which destinations pass your threshold for cultured?

Off the beaten places of significant historical and archaeological significance. Our family has been to more than 110 countries without sharing a single social media photo or post. We travel for ourselves only, which is very rare today unfortunately.

Yet here you are, posting about it on the Internet.

Anonymously, and not to impress anyone. Again, that’s the difference.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:You might enjoy your trip more if you aren’t always scanning for that Instagram-worthy shot. You may notice things you might have otherwise missed. You might realize you’re really having fun with your family doing xyz right now. You might interact more with your family or the locals.
Travels are about getting away. This is harder to do if you’re always thinking how amazing this shot will look on my FB page to my followers.
That’s all some of us are saying.

It’s just weird how some of you think you absolutely cannot in any way enjoy your trip or being with your family if you post a picture to Instagram too. Like that’s actually ludicrous.

DP. For me, it’s a matter of mindset. If I knew there was a chance I might post something to social media, my photos occupied my mind in a way that made me feel kind of ick. It became a weird compulsion to think “I wonder how this one will go over.” Or, “yikes, we look weird in that one, let’s take it again… ok, just one more…” When I removed the possibility, it opened up a lot of space in my head to just enjoy the place, the moment, the people.

I get this. I think I used to be more obsessive about social media and I remember sometimes feeling this way. I quit Facebook a while back and found that was a major culprit. There is something about how people post and interact on Facebook that I think encourages this mindset.

But I still have Instagram and Twitter and while I don't post very often, I do occasionally post travel photos. But I'm not thinking about social media at all when I take the photos. I just go on vacation and take photos as I see fit, for our own memories. And occasionally I take a photo and I or my DH or my kid will say "oh wow, that would be a fun photo to share." Sometimes it's just a pretty photo of a place we're visiting where the light is nice or something, and other times it's a picture of us that it just feels like people will be interested in. So I'll post it. But we take many vacations where nothing gets posted and we don't think about it.

It's similar with my kid. I do not document her life on social media (no compulsory 1st day of school photos, I don't automatically do photos on her birthday or whatever). But occasionally I take a photo of her and think "oh, it would be fun to share this with the family and friends on Instagram." My IG account is private and I always ask her before sharing (and she has said no to some things and I abide by her decision). Like the last thing of her I shared was a short video from a dance recital she was in where she had a little solo and it was just so cute and good and I knew people would enjoy seeing it because they know she dances but never get to see it. But that was months ago and I haven't felt compelled to share since.

I think when your default is "private", it's possible to just share things occasionally to social media without it becoming the reason you take photos or influencing what you photograph or even what you do. But I get what you mean about how it can swing too far in the wrong direction because I think I was kind of like that when I was still on Facebook, where I was connected to way more people and it seemed like there was more pressure to post things and to post things people would like.

I take thousands of pictures of my kids per year. I take videos of them singing, jumping, playing piano and even crying. I don’t post these on social media. I just like to take pictures and videos of my kids.

When we are on vacation, I also take pictures and videos of my kids. I don’t take pictures for social media but I may post a picture in front of the Eiffel Tower. I will go out of my way to get this one picture but it is absolutely not the focus of our trip. My kids are still young so lots of trips to the beach. I have hundred of pictures of my friends on the beach. I love when old pictures pop up on my phone or Alexa.

[Anonymous]

*meant to say hundreds of pictures of my kids at the beach.

I know these pictures would not be interesting to anyone. They are interesting to me. I do not post them. Sure, I may post one family picture from the summer or if we went fishing. This is hardly brag worthy. I like seeing my friends’ kids too.

[Anonymous]

Everyone - no one is saying don't take pictures to capture the memories for yourself and your family or friends who were on vacation with you. But there is a subset of people who take pictures in addition or mostly, for an outside audience, for people who were not on vacation with you. The latter is what some of us are challenging. The title of the post is travel on social media. Not photography on travels.

[Anonymous]

I enjoy seeing others' travel photos. Gives me ideas for where I want to go next I occasionally will post a few photos of my own trips, but only if I think it's something particularly interesting/funny/beautiful.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Everyone - no one is saying don't take pictures to capture the memories for yourself and your family or friends who were on vacation with you. But there is a subset of people who take pictures in addition or mostly, for an outside audience, for people who were not on vacation with you. The latter is what some of us are challenging. The title of the post is travel on social media. Not photography on travels.

Pp here. I was just saying that I take lots of pictures of my kids and I post a few sometimes, maybe once a month. I don’t take photos for social media though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I enjoy seeing others' travel photos. Gives me ideas for where I want to go next I occasionally will post a few photos of my own trips, but only if I think it's something particularly interesting/funny/beautiful.

Do you think your subconscious thought process is more “I want to go to that place?” Or “I want to be more like that person?”

[Anonymous]

PSA: if you don’t think travel pictures are worthy of posting on social media—then what do you think is worth posting?

FWIW, I prefer travel pics to anniversary pics or food pics. Birthday pics are fine, but they really aren’t as interesting as seeing travel pics.

If the haters simply hate everything on social media, then I don’t see how their opinion matters. Social media isn’t mandatory. People who enjoy it would seemingly enjoy travel pics.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I enjoy seeing others' travel photos. Gives me ideas for where I want to go next I occasionally will post a few photos of my own trips, but only if I think it's something particularly interesting/funny/beautiful.

Do you think your subconscious thought process is more “I want to go to that place?” Or “I want to be more like that person?”

Definitely "I want to go to that place."

I know social media is evil, but for me it's just a time-suck, not a comparison trap.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I enjoy seeing others' travel photos. Gives me ideas for where I want to go next I occasionally will post a few photos of my own trips, but only if I think it's something particularly interesting/funny/beautiful.

Do you think your subconscious thought process is more “I want to go to that place?” Or “I want to be more like that person?”

I definitely don’t want to be more like other people. In our circles, we probably travel the most. We go on 10+ vacations per year. I may post 1 ski photo of 3-5 ski trips we go on. Same with the beach. If we go to the beach 4x, I may post one trip. I usually do post winter break, spring break and a summer vacation or 2. During Covid, I posted pictures of hiking.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:PSA: if you don’t think travel pictures are worthy of posting on social media—then what do you think is worth posting?

FWIW, I prefer travel pics to anniversary pics or food pics. Birthday pics are fine, but they really aren’t as interesting as seeing travel pics.

If the haters simply hate everything on social media, then I don’t see how their opinion matters. Social media isn’t mandatory. People who enjoy it would seemingly enjoy travel pics.

Yes, I prefer travel pics to reposts of random crap or workout or food pics. I have a friend who posts everything in her entire life. Her life is not very interesting. It is kind of sad actually.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I enjoy seeing others' travel photos. Gives me ideas for where I want to go next I occasionally will post a few photos of my own trips, but only if I think it's something particularly interesting/funny/beautiful.

Do you think your subconscious thought process is more “I want to go to that place?” Or “I want to be more like that person?”

… do you think we are all 11? Grown adults would see a beautiful place they’ve been and think “I want to see that!” When my friends post travel pics they are almost never in them … they’re showing pictures of sights and scenes and cool stuff