How Instagram Is Programming You To Commodify Your Identity

Wow, every chance at leisure is only a repurposing of the same self-indulgent neoliberal capitalistic propaganda you were trying to escape from when you first signed up for this fancy picture show! Who would have thunk it?

You may have thought Instagram is simply a new, visual way to relax from a stressful school or work day. But really, Instagram is a new facet of neoliberalism's attempt to normalize selling your identity! YOINKERS!

This probably sounds like some Loony Leftist Lies, right?

However, Buzzfeed's very own founder, Jonah Peretti, recognized this method of the fabricated self in his Marxist dissection: "Capitalism and Schizophrenia: Contemporary Visual Culture and the Acceleration of Identity Formation/Dissolution."

But before we get into all that fancy word jumbo, let's actually do some investigating here.

Hahaha, sure you are! If your social media presence presents you this way,

W H Y N O T?

What does neoliberalism have to do with Social Media? It's just memes and cute doggos. Right?

I mean, true. That's fucking adorable.

But, neoliberalism is a pervasive ideology that exists even in cute animal videos.

In Christian Fuchs book, Social Media: A Critical Introduction, he first explains that this "Web 2.0" (a term coined by Tim O'Reilly following the dotcom bust) is actually based on the exploitation of free labor under the falsified notion of voluntary participation that actually creates a passive user. It also advances for depoliticization in communicative capitalism. Discourse surrounding Social Media ignores its complete ownership to corporate media chains, and how 'sharing' is "mystifying the logic of profit, advertising, and commerce that is at the heart of their operation" Visual forms of media like Instagram makes this even easier! Instagram will be the focus of our investigation because of this.

So how does neoliberalism do this right under our likin' thumbs without us noticing, paying any kind of attention or even, care?

Instagram can be used as a social tool in 6 ways:

* Divided Self

* Idolization

* Gratification

* The Illusion of Connectivity

* Modification of Self

*The Elusive Cool

Do you present your authentic self on Instagram? Are you suppose to? Is there even an authentic self? WHO AM I?!

As I've mentioned earlier, Buzzfeed founder's Marxist critique of this form of media consumption became his business model. Though clinically inaccurate (as he admits), Peretti uses "schizophrenic" to mean someone without a defined identity. Neoliberalism which wishes to flood capitalism's gates with new products, innovation, and consumption paired with people's tendencies to formulate their identities alongside others and especially "cultural items" such as songs, movies, shows, etc can result in a scrambled and confused self.

" hell yeah like it just didn't seem like it was them I knew all these people and I know they all have different lives outside of 'I look cute'" - Anon #1

"yeah so my account has gone through like [...] I always go back and delete stuff so yeah so when it became more lifestyle I started deleting a lot of stuff because part of me was kind of [embarassed]" - Anon #2

It is the same way in which you as the viewer are suppose to both identify with our simplified points, with the (attempted) comedy offered, and the various gifs listed with their own cultural references. How can you create a self when you have to constantly reflect yourself in curated images? It begins to explain the individual's need to curate their own images. Which, inevitably, recycles the schizophrenia.

Peretti also notes that celebrity culture may be another reason for this lack of self. And we thought they could #relate

Consumerism plays a major role in the lack of self. In order for those TrimTeas ads to work, the viewer must formulate a "mirror stage identification" with the celebrity/brand ambassador. There must be the creation of an identity just long enough for a person to believe the product is essential. This identification has to be longstanding for future purchases, but flexible so other brands can project a new identity.

But what's the harm in wanting to follow trends and placing a specific lenses on your posts? Everyone would be instafamous if they could be.

“Yeah there are like a couple scamming ways to make money off instagram. But that's just like- it's time to reevaluate when you start thinking about how often you'd be on your phone, how’d often you would be tied to social media, sounds kind of draining. Lifeless.” -Laxmi Lark, VCU Grad

Neoliberal economic/political shift fosters its attentive ideology of individualism

For Althusser, we live inside ideology in this way—the formula applies in particular to social media in which subjects are addressed as users who do not exist without a profile. It is justified to use this slightly authoritarian, hermetic concept of ideology because of the highly centralized top-down structure of social media architecture in this age of platform capitalism, which leaves zero space for users to reprogram their communication spaces.

Despite all the postmodernism and cynical neoliberalism that has deemed it redundant, it is no surprise that ideology (again) rules. (It is more remarkable how total the concept’s fall from use has been.) The main issue is that we are less and less aware of how it rules. When it comes to social media we have an “enlightened false consciousness” in which we know very well what we are doing when we are fully sucked in, but we do it anyway. Digital duality ceases to be as people apply their individualistic entrepreneurial spirits to the realm of social media to monetize it. We’re all aware of the algorithmic manipulations of Facebook’s news feed, the filter-bubble effect in apps, and the persuasive presence of personalized advertisement. We pull in updates, 24/7, in a real-time global economy of interdependencies, having been taught to read news feeds as interpersonal indicators of the planetary condition. So in what way does Louis Althusser need updating”?

~Ideology~ doesn't make me check my Instagram. That's all independent choice. And, followers just show how popular someone is. If they have that many followers, it's because they have good content.

“When me and my business partners selected employees for the new shop, Instagram followers definitely played a part. Kids these days are lazy and they lack character. They think someone is cool because they have like a hundred thousand followers and do exactly what they do. As sad as it is, it’s the best way to bring people into the shop.”

Followers are nothing more but social currency in the growing world of self-entrepreneurship on Instagram. The same neoliberal assumption that one has obtained wealth because they worked hard and thus deserve it translates into the virtual arena. Any individuality you may have has to be marketable in the same way celebrities are used . You, in essence, have made your existence a brand. By doing so, you must fit the mold of both Instagram as the hosting site, and the various companies that wish to exploit your labor and offer you promo codes in return.

“The new generation doesn’t care about who’s on the cover of vogue or GQ anymore. They care about what the person with a million followers is wearing or dating.”

Me on Insta vs me in rl

It isn't uncommon to change how you present yourself in front of certain audiences. It doesn't mean those aspects aren't you. However, Instagram and other visual media's attempts to monetize the self is actually much more sinister than changing your vocabulary around your teacher versus your friends.

Our interviews found that people will go to great lengths in order to achieve this “cool” online persona, such as photo editing, and taking over 100 pictures at a time in order to get ONE “fire” picture. There is even an article published in Forbes Magazine details the “8 steps to doubling your Instagram follower count.” The article gives seemingly easy steps that one could use in order to brand themselves on instagram and increase social or monetary gain. While promoting yourself in such a way makes it much easier to commodify yourself, This false representation of self can cause feelings of low self esteem and self-consciousness outside of the social media world. According to one interviewee when asked about the effect of instagram usage on her self esteem, she stated that:

“I do edit my pictures to a certain extent so like i feel like everyone is like ‘oh this is so beautiful,’ but it kinda lowers my self esteem a little bit because I know…’oh i covered that pimple up.’ It’s not really the true version of myself to some degree.” - Anon #3

While she acknowledges that she is not presenting a version of herself that is one hundred percent accurate, she makes it clear during the interview that she posts pictures for the likes and will do what it takes to increase her social capital.

Oh you think you can talk to me because you follow me on Instagram? Think again.

Instagram allows people to interact with others' post which can spark a feeling of connectivity. According to the article, The Function of Self-Disclosure on Social Network Sites: Not Only Intimate but Also Positive and Entertaining Self-Disclosures Increase the Feeling of Connection, “Feeling connected is mediated by the received likes and comments, indicating that partner and (SNS) friends’ responsiveness plays an important role.” This was also relevant in the interviews we conducted with Instagram users. One interviewee said, “It shows you that people value… you, so you feel like people care about you more.” However, the action of liking or comment is actually one done in passivity. The meaning of a like can be changed given the already established relationship one has with other users. Does a like from your mom mean the same as a like from your crush, or someone you don't know well? What makes it different?

You've loved reacted the same posts 50 times because your feed has ZERO new content. It can't be because everyone else is doing the same thing instead of posting to the gram, right?

Though people are aware that they are being exploited through mass media technologies, they still feel a sense of false social pressure to constantly be consuming and producing content. Our interviewees reported feelings of frustration, anxiety, and boredom on the apps, yet most still continue to use the site for social networking. As Bourdieu explains, agency and motivation in a ‘dog-eat-dog” struggle for culture capital is causing people to feel as if they're competing in virtually everything in their day to day life. The “economic conception” that cultural capital is obtained and used ‘as a resource which yields power’ also explains addictive consumption habits on Instagram.

Me: I'm not addicted to social media. Also Me:

“It's just my community happens to focus on what is an interesting image, and what's cool and what makes you like pause on the image… and that happens to be social currency.” - Anon #4

“Its mostly like choosing an image based on what I think people will respond to visually or think is cool” - Anon #5

'Cool', according to our research, means something different to everyone: the image an artist thinks is cool looks very different than what a sorority girl thinks is cool. The word intentionally has no fixed meaning, and to try and pin down the definition of “cool” would be the death of its appeal once spelled out. In his book, Mcguigan looks at the survey of cool rules by Pountain and Robins to identify the essential traits of “cool”: Narcissism, Ironic Detachment and hedonism, to explain the “marriage of counter culture and corporate business” (7). Both from our data analysis and outside research, we can conclude that “narcissism”, “ironic detachment” and “hedonism” are direct motivators and experiences of the instagram user. Validation from positive feedback (hedonism), emphasizing ‘not caring’ or meme culture (ironic detachment), and selfie/ self love culture (narcissism) are all real life contributors to our addiction to social media.

So now Instagram is ruined too? Should I just use snapchat?

Well no, Instagram has a way better interface. It isn't usually the tool at fault, but rather the ideological basis that constitutes the correct use of said tool. The next step now is to better examine your overall use of Instagram. What are you using it for? What do you wish to obtain from it? What and who are you showing to your passive audience? Why does this presentation matter to you?

These questions can help you better understand your use habits.

So, I don't have to delete my account?

No. Pictures are fun. Your friends are fun. Family is fun. Seeing what celebrities are doing can be fun. They are designed to be. You don't have to reject things that give you joy simply because they are tools of ideology. That's some fake woke stuff. To be able to recognize the intentions that corporations have with visual forms of media may be able to help curb feelings of obligation to check your feed even when its dead, to edit your photos, or buy a waist trainer. The goal is to better understand the ideology, and seek alternatives within the existing system. Not to make yourself devoid of any entertainment.

So have fun kiddos, and give me a follow xoxoxo