



Make it a little more “behind the scenes” instead of center stage, and we’re even more interested. According to the results, they’re seeking “live and unedited content.”Īs a species, we’re inherently curious about our fellow humans and how they view us. The same survey from Facebook revealed that one of the top reasons people use Instagram’s story feature is to see what others are up to. And TBH, I don’t really know how we got to this point of ridiculousness, but we’re all here. I then have an existential moment wondering what they think, viewing my life online. tipsy Taco Bell feast all over your story, know that someone is likely taking comfort in your less-than-curated contributions.Īfter I’ve speed-tapped through approximately 86 people’s daily happenings, I often find myself rewatching my own story.Īnd then I watch who’s watching me. Picture-perfect poses and photoshopped perfection, however, can make us feel threatened. It’s easier to toss a random photo on your story compared to the mechanics and aesthetic considerations of blending it into “the grid.” These little circles feel like a nice dose of semi-realness in a raging sea of overproduced curation. They’re less ‘threatening,’ making people more likely to tap through them,” Antonino shares. “Users can interpret Stories as lighter and more relatable. Trading responses on each other’s stories, I’ve become “internet friends” with people I’ve never even met.
#Your story isn t over full#
Social media dumbs down the full truth, but I’ve seen far more emotional openness on Instagram Stories compared to other places on social media.Ī survey conducted by Facebook revealed that people feel they can be more authentic, since the content in stories disappears after 24 hours unless saved to a profile highlight. The fact that Instagram Stories are generally less manicured than feed posts also contributes to their lure, says Antonino. It’s deeper than structural design alone. “Is this what tech companies using persuasive design would like to achieve?” “Companies may not realize they’ve set up a vicious cycle where, like with drug addiction, the user ends up either being destroyed by the substance misused, or turned entirely against it,” says Antonino. It’s used in everything from the public health sector to e-commerce. Persuasive design is a psychology-based practice that focuses on influencing human behavior through the characteristics or design of a product or service. Like a pacifier for our brains, this content was specifically designed to whisk us away from the responsibilities of reality even faster than other social feeds. Raffaello Antonino, a counseling psychologist and the clinical director and founder of Therapy Central. The fact that they’re quick makes it even more compelling to watch one after the other,” says Dr. “Instagram Stories work a bit like Netflix episodes, and just like them, we’re compelled to binge-watch. Yep, even when mindlessly tapping through Some Dude from High School’s low-quality concert videos for 38 seconds straight, you’re hooked. These rapid-fire segments loop us in and keep us hooked with every tap, with a more involved narrative that seizes attention. On top of the addictive qualities of social media that most are already aware of, Instagram Stories fuel new levels of compulsion. We’ve become engrossed in these little circles, a bizarre digital universe where authentic human emotion rubs shoulders with calculatingly designed advertisements. That number doubled to 300 million by the final quarter of 2017.Įnter 2021, over 500 million people interact with Instagram Stories on the daily. One year post-launch, Instagram reached 150 million users on Stories, according to marketing analytics company 99firms. When these oh-so-tappable circles launched back in August 2016, I scoffed at the blatant likeness to Snapchat, vowing to skip the feature entirely.
