Nobody likes to argue with friends – especially not when the issue on the table is something as inane as social media. Surely it’s below all of us to get into a spat over likes, tagged pics, and DM slides. It’s just Instagram: a filtered vessel through which we post a curated version of our lives that, outside of our smartphones, means almost nothing. Well, in today’s overly documented and overly online culture, where anyone can go instantly viral, it’s a little more complicated than that.
May*, 52, discovered this firsthand after a recent night out with her 18-year-old daughter and 37-year-old sister. “It had been really hot, so we were super sweaty and all of our makeup had basically disappeared,” she recalls. “We decided to have one last drink at our hotel, and my sister wanted a photo. I reluctantly agreed but asked her not to post it anywhere as I looked awful.” The next morning, May’s sister had posted the photo to her Instagram Stories. “I couldn’t believe it. She had been behind the lens, so there was no tired, sweaty image of her. Just me looking worse for wear. I told her to take it down; she shrugged and said it was no big deal.”
