#kyledaily

[stvalley]

KYLE RAYNER & DONNA TROY in ION

[stvalley]

this bitch. GLOWS

[patrick-fl]

12:42 am

I really miss doing these little timestamp thought posts. I used to do them all the time, usually having some existential thought behind them or some ridiculous symbolism that I might not even be able to tell you what the fuck they actually meant. But I have been thinking, what do pictures mean to people anymore? This might sound like an odd question, but I truly believe that before the age of 'likes' and 'favorites,' pictures and thoughts meant quite a bit more. Like tonight, at a dinner with friends, I could overhear two of them talking about the "Peak Instagram Hours" like it was some scientific period of the day. It seems that pictures' meanings have diminished to nothing more than the potential to get likes and subsequently, peer acceptance. Generally, one feels better when a picture of theirs gets 100 likes versus 10 likes. But what about the picture? It seems like the Likes have more value than the photo themselves. Evolving from a means to capture a memory to nothing more than a medium of cyber social acceptance. There is also a similar system when it comes to thoughts, (mainly in the Twittersphere) whereas if a Tweet doesn't get many favorites or Retweets, the poster seems to think of that thought as not socially accepted, or subsequently, themselves not being accepted, because generally thoughts are a good representation of someone. It's interesting to see how this virtual acceptance changes what someone says, and doesn't say. This could translate into individuals losing what makes them individuals; individuality. Instead, they attempt to please a larger audience, trying to have the same views as them, or feign them. It's a quite terrible thing to think of, but I truly believe this is happening before our very eyes, and we have nobody but ourselves to blame.