Sure everything looks better on social media, but when it comes to travel posts in particular, how much of what we see is really real?
I’m not saying people are always posting doctored photos (though some are) or that they aren’t really where they say they are (though some aren’t), but the travel highlight reels posted on social media don’t exactly reflect reality.
Not even my photos reflect what my life is actually like. I’ve created a travel page designed to inspire people to travel, but more often than it probably seems, I am sitting at my very regular desk doing very regular work as an editor. I am always where I say I am, just not always at the time of posting, since I’m pretty sure the view from my Manhattan office won’t inspire people to take out their passports and go somewhere. Although maybe just the thought of an office/desk/lockdown situation is enough to inspire people to flee on a flight…
Anyway, the point is, we can’t let social media make us feel like everyone is out there living their best lives, jetsetting nonstop and taking the most perfect pics while we’re doing pretty much none of that. There’s even an actual real life study that shows millennials are most likely to post deceptive vacation photos just to inspire envy on social.
Yes, it’s sad but true.
More than one-third of millennials have posted a photo that makes their vacation look better than it was, Allianz Global Assistance said in its social deception study. The problem with that is, more than half of millennials say social media posts influence their travel planning, which means these photos have probably created some unrealistic expectations of what a place or experience is really like.
And the best part, since girls in flowy dresses and floppy hats (guilty) take all the hate for their too-perfect posts? Guys are more likely than girls to post photos that make their vacation look better than it really was, and almost twice as likely to do it to make people jealous or to compete with other people. Guys, I really gave you more credit than that.
The lesson here?
Let travel posts on social media inspire you to learn more about a place you might not have known much about, or get you excited to plan your next trip or your own memories, but take people’s posts with a grain of salt since you can never really know what’s going on behind that square snap for the ‘Gram.