Instagram-bad or good?

[Kinglet]

Really? Social networks are the problem in today's society? I would go into the real problems however forum rules forbid me from doing so. Social networks are the end result, not the root.

And again what Seret said, the irony is flowing very strongly here.

Forums actually serve the purpose if communication. Stuff like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram has no practical use apart from bragging and fame.

[Seret]

Forums actually serve the purpose if communication. Stuff like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram has no practical use apart from bragging and fame.

Only if you use them to associate with vapid people. Same as forums, plenty of forums are awful places full of idiots behaving appallingly. I haven't seen any behaviour on newer internet communications platforms that wasn't evident on older ones TBH.

[Megalodon 720]

I hate all of them, instagram, facebook, twitter and all the rest.

[Kryten]

Forums actually serve the purpose if communication. Stuff like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram has no practical use apart from bragging and fame.

If you want people to stop bragging and trying to achieve fame, you're going to have to remove something a good bit more fundamental than facebook. The frontal lobe, perhaps.

[Dodgey]

Forums actually serve the purpose if communication. Stuff like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram has no practical use apart from bragging and fame.

What are the fundemental differences which make forums serve a purpose and other social media sites not only worthless but detrimental.

[SpaceXray]

Facebook was supposed to be used to connect people even when they can't meet in person.

Instead, it makes it impossible for people to meet in person now.

Instagram was supposed to be a photo sharing site like Flickr.

Now it is a huge spam dump and show off market filled with jealousy, envy, brag, gossip, cheap fame and so on...

[Seret]

You're a "glass is half empty" kind of person, aren't you? 😉

[Kinglet]

You're a "glass is half empty" kind of person, aren't you? 😉

Half of the glass is taken up by water.

[cpast]

Facebook was supposed to be used to connect people even when they can't meet in person.

Instead, it makes it impossible for people to meet in person now.

Speak for yourself. It may make it hard for you to meet people in person, but it serves the "connect people no matter where they are" function pretty well for me, specifically including helping people meet in person. It's a bit presumptuous of you to judge how every single person uses social media and determine that no one at all is using it to genuinely connect with friends, no?

[SpaceXray]

Speak for yourself. It may make it hard for you to meet people in person, but it serves the "connect people no matter where they are" function pretty well for me, specifically including helping people meet in person. It's a bit presumptuous of you to judge how every single person uses social media and determine that no one at all is using it to genuinely connect with friends, no?

Go into any cafe and look around. No one is talking anymore- they just sit 70cm away from each other buried in their phones.

Its supposed to connect us, but we use it to ignore each other.

[Dodgey]

Go into any cafe and look around. No one is talking anymore- they just sit 70cm away from each other buried in their phones.

Its supposed to connect us, but we use it to ignore each other.

No, those most likely strangers are not talking to each other face to face, but does that say anything about the amount of people that they are connecting with over the world. I don't see how you are able to make an assessment of how effective it is just by looking at a bunch of people at a cafe.

[cpast]

Go into any cafe and look around. No one is talking anymore- they just sit 70cm away from each other buried in their phones.

Its supposed to connect us, but we use it to ignore each other.

So you maintain that people don't meet up with friends in cafes anymore? Because that's blatantly false: when I go to a coffee shop, I *frequently* see at least one group of people talking with each other; if I don't, it's most often because the cafe is fairly empty, or because it's morning and people are just trying to get caffeine quickly before going to work. For that matter, lots of people on their phones are talking to friends (often because they do not, in fact, know anyone at the cafe); if they are instead buried in work of some form or another, they would previously have been cooped up in an office or library or similar, instead of getting to go to a cafe, be surrounded with people, and have a fair chance of actually interacting with someone.

[SpaceXray]

No, those most likely strangers are not talking to each other face to face, but does that say anything about the amount of people that they are connecting with over the world. I don't see how you are able to make an assessment of how effective it is just by looking at a bunch of people at a cafe.

(Facepalm) I am talking about friends sitting together buried into their phones not even talking to each other.

I suggest you watch the video on YT called "I forgot my phone"

itll open up your eyes to the problem.

[Sylandro]

Hate it, just like our wholesome-mined choreography known as society.

[Dodgey]

(Facepalm) I am talking about friends sitting together buried into their phones not even talking to each other.

I suggest you watch the video on YT called "I forgot my phone"

itll open up your eyes to the problem.

Do you have any studies to back this up? I could make a video showing how playing gta causes kids to commit crimes. Doesn't make it true. Honestly that video was bordering in the edge of fear mongering.

[Kinglet]

That video is just made to get YouTube fame. It's showing that your life will be PERFECT without your phone. That's not the case, your problems won't just be solved and it will not be all sunshine happiness if you leave your phone at home.

[SpaceXray]

That video is just made to get YouTube fame. It's showing that your life will be PERFECT without your phone. That's not the case, your problems won't just be solved and it will not be all sunshine happiness if you leave your phone at home.

Did you even watch it or just read the name if the video?

Apparently you are completely oblivious to the problem and most likely you became part of it sadly.

The problem here is that people communicate face-to-face much less despite being close to each other.

When It comes to real human contact, people are at a loss and can act awkwardly due to lack of previous social experience.

Also, the photo spam on SN sites is ruining society since they can open up greed, envy and jealousy in other people.

Since people have a better look at their neighbors, they want what they have even more. People value what they have even less then and are negative towards those who are on a tropical holiday for example.

[Kinglet]

Did you even watch it or just read the name if the video?

Apparently you are completely oblivious to the problem and most likely you became part of it sadly.

The problem here is that people communicate face-to-face much less despite being close to each other.

When It comes to real human contact, people are at a loss and can act awkwardly due to lack of previous social experience.

Also, the photo spam on SN sites is ruining society since they can open up greed, envy and jealousy in other people.

Since people have a better look at their neighbors, they want what they have even more. People value what they have even less then and are negative towards those who are on a tropical holiday for example.

I am not oblivious to the problem. The video is. It's just ironical and ineffective to put that Messange on YOUTUBE. If you were to send a Messange like that to someone on twitter or any other social network, they will not care. Social networks give people the illusion of real friends and talking to them. People who constantly use social networks go crazy if they loose their internet, as the illusion fades away.

[jmiki8]

I hate Instagram, because most of its users pretend to be professional photographers, which they aren't. You can't take good quality pictures with a mobile phone.

And I can't stand those "filters". Most Instagram users take a somewhat good picture, then destroy it by applying one of these filters, which are based on chromatical aberrations, vignetting, and other lens errors. The most annoying is when they say they are "photoshopping", while they don't even know what Adobe Photoshop is.

Another problem with Instragram users is that most of them rely on the use of effects and filters instead of composing the picture itself. Most of them take photos of everyday situations, lampposts, trash bins, food, etc, then add some effects and call it photography. This ends up in a cr@pload of similar, boring and bad quality images.

If you are really into photography, take photos with a genuine camera, and learn at least the basic stuff related to photography ( shutter speed, aperture, ISO-value, focal length, etc). And don't say you can't afford one, almost everybody can nowadays. A decent camera costs as much as a middle-end smartphone. It may not be a Nikon D4 or a Canon 1D, but you could still buy far better machines than those mobile phones (even compact cameras are better than those).

If you still think that real cameras are expensive, you can effectively reduce costs by buying slightly used stuff (just don't let yourself fooled). A camera with like 20k shutter actuations (most middle range cameras are tested for 100k) is like new, and these second-hand models cost about half of the original price. I have an old-ish Nikon D80 from 2006, and it performs very well.

Oh, and forget the megapixels!! Megapixels are far nothing compared to other properties of a camera. The resolution is not equal to image quality. Take an older 4-6 megapixel compact camera and a 8MP smartphone, you'll notice the difference.

Of course, buying a decent camera will not make you a decent photographer, but you'd better invest in a starter equipment first, as you won't gain skills by using fully automatic smartphone cams. The mentioned starter equipment could be basically any lower-end camera with manual settings option (aperture, shutter speed, ISO, white balance, and focus (if posibble)).

So basically:

Do you shoot pictures occassionally? Then stick to the phone's camera.

Is photography your hobby? Then leave Instagram, and buy a more serious machine.

Edited August 12, 2014 by jmiki8

[Capt.Joseph Kerbertson]

Don't know, Never used it. Don't use twitter either. I'm actually pretty anti-social media. I view forums a little differently as most of the time, they are an information resource and not a "hey I'm going to the bathroom again #toiletproblems".

[Skyrunner27]

Did you even watch it or just read the name if the video?

Apparently you are completely oblivious to the problem and most likely you became part of it sadly.

The problem here is that people communicate face-to-face much less despite being close to each other.

When It comes to real human contact, people are at a loss and can act awkwardly due to lack of previous social experience.

Also, the photo spam on SN sites is ruining society since they can open up greed, envy and jealousy in other people.

Since people have a better look at their neighbors, they want what they have even more. People value what they have even less then and are negative towards those who are on a tropical holiday for example.

I watched the video and it seemed pretty hyperbolic. I don't have a phone much less a smartphone, and I have never had an experience like any in the video. Actually people who actively use their smartphone tend to be more sociable than me. Also I was at a cafe not too long ago and everyone was talking to each other except for the people who were alone. Sure you might be angered that people are taking bad photos but it has been that way since the age of the disposable camera. Phone cameras are not the problem. Instagram is not the problem.

[SpaceXray]

I hate Instagram, because most of its users pretend to be professional photographers, which they aren't. You can't take good quality pictures with a mobile phone.

And I can't stand those "filters". Most Instagram users take a somewhat good picture, then destroy it by applying one of these filters, which are based on chromatical aberrations, vignetting, and other lens errors. The most annoying is when they say they are "photoshopping", while they don't even know what Adobe Photoshop is.

Another problem with Instragram users is that most of them rely on the use of effects and filters instead of composing the picture itself. Most of them take photos of everyday situations, lampposts, trash bins, food, etc, then add some effects and call it photography. This ends up in a cr@pload of similar, boring and bad quality images.

If you are really into photography, take photos with a genuine camera, and learn at least the basic stuff related to photography ( shutter speed, aperture, ISO-value, focal length, etc). And don't say you can't afford one, almost everybody can nowadays. A decent camera costs as much as a middle-end smartphone. It may not be a Nikon D4 or a Canon 1D, but you could still buy far better machines than those mobile phones (even compact cameras are better than those).

If you still think that real cameras are expensive, you can effectively reduce costs by buying slightly used stuff (just don't let yourself fooled). A camera with like 20k shutter actuations (most middle range cameras are tested for 100k) is like new, and these second-hand models cost about half of the original price. I have an old-ish Nikon D80 from 2006, and it performs very well.

Oh, and forget the megapixels!! Megapixels are far nothing compared to other properties of a camera. The resolution is not equal to image quality. Take an older 4-6 megapixel compact camera and a 8MP smartphone, you'll notice the difference.

Of course, buying a decent camera will not make you a decent photographer, but you'd better invest in a starter equipment first, as you won't gain skills by using fully automatic smartphone cams. The mentioned starter equipment could be basically any lower-end camera with manual settings option (aperture, shutter speed, ISO, white balance, and focus (if posibble)).

So basically:

Do you shoot pictures occassionally? Then stick to the phone's camera.

Is photography your hobby? Then leave Instagram, and buy a more serious machine.

Exactly my thoughts! Finally someone who understands how terrible of a photo editor and uploaded Instagram is and how people think taking photos of their nails and dogs is professional photography.

I have an iphone 5s which I use for taking quick photos when I don't have my DSLR with me and for 120FPS video.

I don't use Instagram, I only use Flickr. I delete excess photos and leave only the best. Then I use iPhoto(by Apple) to edit them(I actually really enjoy it, and it is free).

I also have a Nikon D3100 which is actually twice as cheap and some gear.

What I love about DSLR's is the customization of settings, lenses, accessories etc.

With a DSLR you can really let your imagination go wild. And you don't necessarily need a 8000€ Canon to shoot

great photos. All you need is a good eye and basic knowledge of photo editing(which is a lot more than tapping on a fake filter).

Edited December 21, 2014 by SpaceXray

[RobotsAndSpaceships]

Instagram: middleschoolers/10

[Aningaaq]

Many space agencies have Instagram accounts. It just one way to view great photos from your mobile device. It is a pretty harmless application.

[Kinglet]

Many space agencies have Instagram accounts. It just one way to view great photos from your mobile device. It is a pretty harmless application.

It's more of a publicity program fail than conveniently priced pictures. It reminds me when all the companies and shops got crazed about social media publicity a couple of years ago and started making Facebook and Twitter accounts and putting "Like us on Facebook" or "Follow us on Twitter" stickers on their windows. In the end, nobody cared and it was all useless.

This is just organizations trying to appeal to the "young" people.