#itsabouttime

So in accordance with my tendency to join the bandwagon five to ten years after the initial trend has launched (as evidenced by this very blog); I joined instagram, today. And this is what I found.

#imatool 

My odd and overwhelming desire to take selfies finally has a rightful place on the internet, which is nice because now instead of embarrassingly scrolling through selfies as one person looks over my shoulder, I can now be mocked by exactly six million and four people who will all ask (probably simultaneously), "why does this guy feel the need to include himself in every single photo. He is literally photobombing his own picture." And I am. Because the main question I ask when I compose each photo, is "would this photo be better if I stuck my face in the very front of it?" And the answer is, of course. "Yes...absolutely."

#hatchingevilplans

At first I thought Instagram was simply another self-absorbed image/persona-based social media (which it is), but I also discovered it can be much more than that. I am a busy dude, and I am constantly thinking about what is next. "What do I have to do after I'm done doing this?" "What is next on my list?"  But what I realized is that Instagram, however contrived, forces me to take a snapshot of the moment, to focus on what is happening right now and see what story I am telling, or should tell or want to tell. And for someone who spends a great deal of his (meager) mental abilities thinking about what is next, it is refreshing to be totally IN the moment. Like when I noticed that the smiley-face clock was plotting to kill me, I could really soak that moment up...

Another bonus is that Instagram feeds into my unbridled desire for naming things. I really didn't understand what the whole hashtag thing was about until Steven, a friend who convinced me to join, explained it to me:

Steven: its just the topic that you want your photo tagged as, so other people can see how it is organized.

me: so they just make it up. there is no, like hashtag naming convention?

Steven: yup, just made up.

me: so if I take a picture of a bird I can hashtag it with #senegaleseparrotswhostealyoursoulwiththeireyes, then I can follow that hashtag to see all of the other pictures in the #senegaleseparrotswhostealyoursoulwiththeireyes?

Steven: thats pretty specific, you might just try #exoticbird or something.

me: I see...

So, in summation, Instagram will let me continue my narcissistic streak to prove to everyone just how with-it my life really is...Let me connect deeper to each moment of my day (that I choose to take a picture and #somesnarkyasscomment) and tell funny stories with hashtags...This is going to be fun!

THE END

#senegaleseparrotswhostealyoursoulwiththeireyes

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