Last summer, I moved into a new house and like many other new homeowners I couldn’t wait to head to Instagram for some inspiration on interiors. Before I’d even signed on the dotted line, I had immersed myself in beautiful pastel kitchens and intricate bathroom tiling. But it wasn’t long before I felt wholly uninspired. The exact same styles, in the same homes were cropping up again and again. Was
Last summer, I moved into a new house and like many other new homeowners I couldn’t wait to head to Instagram for some inspiration on interiors. Before I’d even signed on the dotted line, I had immersed myself in beautiful pastel kitchens and intricate bathroom tiling. But it wasn’t long before I felt wholly uninspired. The exact same styles, in the same homes were cropping up again and again. Was this really all the world of interior design had to offer?
Over recent years, there has been a huge growth in the use of “visual discovery” social channels. These platforms have been key in inspiring millions of chefs, home owners, beauty addicts and globe trotters with new ideas, and have allowed those with a creative passion to connect from across the globe. A whole new generation of style influencers have emerged who are able to express themselves without the constraints of traditional media institutions. Never before have we had access to so much visual inspiration from so many different voices.
But recently, when I scroll through my Instagram feed or look at the content of top influencers and brands, it all looks strangely familiar. In reality, has social media created a vacuum for creativity, and have all our tastes started to become homogenised?
Predictable content
Katherine Omerod writes “Social media has become an echo chamber of mainstream and predictable content”, in her book How Social Media is Ruining Your Life. In our obsessive quest for likes, people and brands are learning the recipe for a popular post and recreating the same images over and over again. Even top influencers on these platforms have admitted to identifying which of their competitors’ posts received the most likes, and then recreating it.
The phenomenon is best shown by the Instagram account InstaRepeat which pokes fun at the #wanderlust generation of travellers, the group who are supposedly the embodiment authenticity and independence.
