My #instabreak

Should I use Lo Fi or Hefe?

Or wait…Walden looks pretty boss too.

No, no, no. Nashville.

Yes, Nashville is perfect.

Weirdly enough, this was a pretty common string of thoughts for me this spring break.

Who would’ve thought photo filters could matter so much while I was 500 miles away from home soaking up the beauty of the Bahamas?

Instagram completely changes the way we document and share our trips.

I was slow getting on board the Instagram train when it first came out. I was the last of my friends to cave and finally see what all the hype was about. For the longest time, I couldn’t see what made it so special. This spring break, however, was my first trip out of the country since that little app got a seat on my home screen and I finally see the significance.

Instagram completely changes the way we document and share our trips.

We are constantly bombarded by a sea of information about everyone and everything via social media and we are reaching the point of overload. We don’t want to take the time to pick through the mess of interconnectedness to find the things we care about, we want it to be streamlined and filtered (excuse the pun) into a more condensed way of staying connecting.

Do you have the patience to click through 67 photos from the “Spring Break 20-13 baby!” album on Facebook? Every couple hours a new massive collection of photos pops on my newsfeed and even though a few of them are posted by people I care about, I’m not interested in seeing the exact play by play of their week.

What people do appreciate, and what Instagram has harnessed, is a daily snapshot that epitomizes your experience. Photos that capture a moment so beautiful or funny or interesting that it must be shared.

You are showcasing the moment while it is happening or a little while after, so it feels less like blatant voyeurism and more like sharing real experiences. You are getting to see things displayed from each person’s unique perspective and because individual creativity plays such a strong role in Instagram, it makes photo sharing more personal.

Posting 20 identical hand-on-hip bikini pictures the Saturday after break just doesn’t have the same effect.

Instead of posting an annoying status “HEY GUYS! I JUST FOUND A STARFISH!” You get one cool photo of that starfish to make people care.

So even though having to consider different lighting and filters while documenting my trip was an interesting adjustment, I like the way my trip can be summed up through my Instagram.

And regardless of whether I chose Valencia or Sierra, I’m going to remember just how badass that little starfish was and what it felt like to watch the sunrise over the ocean.

My Spring Break in 11 Instagram photos:

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