It is evident that many people use Instagram, but what does it symbolize and is there more to it than what we actually see? All semester I have been taking a journey through Instagram by exploring the topic of television and pop culture and how our culture reflects what we see on television and how pop culture influences our society. I have learned a lot from this community through photographs and hashtags, but also how the community revolving around television goes beyond what we just see in a photograph. After doing some scholarly research, I found out that television actually represents a lot more about people and how they interact with television. The relationships and interactions are embedded in people’s daily lives as they function and interact, which go beyond the surface-level of a photograph seen on Instagram.
While our culture reflects aspects of television and pop culture, such as fashion, how we act and perceive ourselves, and the idea of characters relating different ideals, there is also a deeper interaction that underlies the way people relate to TV. In my last Instagram blog, I posted a picture about the Oscars and how fashion is one way in which our culture reflects things we see on TV. This idea can be represented in a picture, but behind the picture there are interactions occurring among people that we do not see. As Alison Alexander states in the article Exploring Media in Everyday Life, families spend a lot of time in front of the television which partially “defines the context within which family interaction occurs and therefore helps determine the meaning of that interaction” (56). So, not just families, but any group of people, could be watching the Oscars and having deeper interactions, not only about what they are viewing, but about other things specific to their lives.
While our culture reflects aspects of television and pop culture, such as fashion, how we act and perceive ourselves, and the idea of characters relating different ideals, there is also a deeper interaction that underlies the way people relate to TV. In my last Instagram blog, I posted a picture about the Oscars and how fashion is one way in which our culture reflects things we see on TV. This idea can be represented in a picture, but behind the picture there are interactions occurring among people that we do not see. As Alison Alexander states in the article Exploring Media in Everyday Life, families spend a lot of time in front of the television which partially “defines the context within which family interaction occurs and therefore helps determine the meaning of that interaction” (56). So, not just families, but any group of people, could be watching the Oscars and having deeper interactions, not only about what they are viewing, but about other things specific to their lives.
These aspects of people’s lives are the things that we do not know by just looking at a picture at the surface-level on Instagram. The times that people are sharing in front of the television together could be a way that they are completing a routine, solving conflicts, or making decisions (Alexander, 57). Each group of people’s interaction takes on a different meaning and context.
I posted a picture about the show Modern Family, which reflects how families are different in our culture today. Seeing a picture of the cast along with the caption allows others to be able to take in what you have posted and think about what you have said. This allows for connections with other people, but it is the underlying interactions that may revolve around people watching the show that you do not get to see on Instagram. People might be having a discussion about family roles and values and how they relate to the show. It is another way that interactions occur and people’s varying relationships with television are revealed.
I posted a picture about the show Modern Family, which reflects how families are different in our culture today. Seeing a picture of the cast along with the caption allows others to be able to take in what you have posted and think about what you have said. This allows for connections with other people, but it is the underlying interactions that may revolve around people watching the show that you do not get to see on Instagram. People might be having a discussion about family roles and values and how they relate to the show. It is another way that interactions occur and people’s varying relationships with television are revealed.
These interactions are not just seen in television, but let’s take for instance the idea of movies. Two of my classmates Amy and Amber (click on their names to check out their Instagram accounts) talk about movies in their posts. Amy posts pictures of movie stubs from the movies she has seen and Amber made a post with a bunch of Disney movies in it. Movies are a part of pop culture and our culture can definitely reflect the ideas from movies. (Amber is focusing on how Disney movies give girls unrealistic expectations, which is one way that movies influence our culture). These photographs, along with the captions, allow others to see something that they might be interested in and then be able to explore it further through the hashtags and create connections with others, but beyond the image there are interactions that occur among people while watching movies. Just like when watching TV, people are interacting in various ways while watching movies and different people will define these interactions differently.
Photos courtesy of marvelamy_wrt and princessamberwrt Instagrams
The things I mention above are also found within posts from the people of Instagram that I follow that pertain to television and pop culture. They post about things in pop culture and television for people to see and respond to, but like I have said there are interactions that occur “behind the scenes.” This picture from glamgirlblog (you can check it out by clicking on the name) about the MTV Video Music Awards, represents an aspect of television very well, but when it comes to watching them, people will interact differently, in different places, and the meaning of how they interact will vary.
There is power to Instagram. In a classroom setting, it can be used not just to post pictures, but to post about class concepts and explore them deeper or formulate topics that allow students to research and interact with a concept of interest. I think that Instagram on the surface allows us to be able to connect with different people through hashtags and different communities of people, but there is so much more. I have been looking at how our culture reflects television all semester, but after researching more I have found that television represents more about people and how they interact with it and each other. We may be able to see in a photograph, but we cannot truly understand the meaning of people’s relationships, how they interact, and what is taking place as they watch television.
Works Cited
Alexander, Alison. “Exploring Media in Everyday Life.” Communication
Monographs. 60 (1993): 55-61. Web. 21 April 2014.
Amber Dover’s Instagram-glambergirlblog (Glambergirlblog.com)
Amber Holden’s Instagram-princessamberwrt
(http://ambermarie02.weebly.com/class-blog.html)
Amy McAnally’s Instagram-marvelamy_wrt (http://amymacwrt.weebly.com/)
My Instagram-megansigadowrt
Works Cited
Alexander, Alison. “Exploring Media in Everyday Life.” Communication
Monographs. 60 (1993): 55-61. Web. 21 April 2014.
Amber Dover’s Instagram-glambergirlblog (Glambergirlblog.com)
Amber Holden’s Instagram-princessamberwrt
(http://ambermarie02.weebly.com/class-blog.html)
Amy McAnally’s Instagram-marvelamy_wrt (http://amymacwrt.weebly.com/)
My Instagram-megansigadowrt