Has Instagram Become OKCupid for Hipsters?
We all know that the main purpose of the Internet is to find sex and, I guess, love. I mean, that’s why I do what I do on the Internet. Not for money. Not for fame. For love. So, now you know. But anyway, other people use different things to find sex and love, things like dating sites. But dating sites come and go, because old people move in and make them terrible places and all of a sudden your mom is single and looking for love and can find your OKCupid profile and then you’re dating your mom. Well, maybe that’s how it happens. I don’t know, I’ve never used a dating site but I’m pretty sure the end game is always dating your own mother. However, young people are now avoiding the notorious Jocasta trap by staying clear of OKCupid and using Instagram to find sex and love and, I don’t know, high-fives. Or whatever it is that people are into these days.
How am I such an expert on this exactly? Well, I wasn’t. Not until I read an article on The Cut titled “How I Turned Instagram Into a Dating Service.” I learned so, so much from this article and even though I don’t have an Instagram, I might get one because even I deserve a little love or, at the very least, another way to feel validated by people I’ve never met in real life. Which is, as we all know, the best—the only—kind of validation. Because in real life, people are dicks, whereas on the Internet, they show their best selves. We all do.
The author of the post argues in favor of Instagram as a way to get to know someone because “this simple photo stream is an intimate (albeit edited) record of our lives — a roadmap, and at best, a humorous, even sexy one.” Which, sure, it has to be at least as valid a way as an online profile for understanding what someone is really like. And, yes, the photos are filtered in ways meant to flatter people and make them look like they walk in the path of only the most golden light. But there’s nothing wrong with constructing an online identity for yourself—either things will work out in reality or they won’t, but you might as well look good online. You know, for your brand or whatever.
But, so, I’m not even on Instagram. As I started writing this post, I thought to myself, Maybe this isn’t even a thing? Maybe this is just some weird trend piece that has no basis in reality? So, I said, out loud in my office, “Is this even a thing, you guys?” Almost immediately, the lovely Deirdre Hering answered, “Oh, yes. There’s even #instameet.” She also added, “Kristin, you’re not on Instagram? What are you doing with your life?”
While the answer to that question remains unclear at this time, the answer to whether Instagram dating is a thing or not has definitively been answered. I asked Deirdre for an example of people she knew who had met this way and she told me, “I can’t tell you but I can show you. Because it is beautiful.” What she showed me was indeed beautiful. It involved pictures of a handsome man, a beautiful woman, and a SPECTACULAR pet. Maybe a dog, maybe not. It’s irrelevant. Anyway, it was a beautiful story and now I believe in the power of love and the Internet and the Rise filter. THE END.
Follow Kristin Iversen on twitter @kmiversen
