Natalie King
 Publisher

Instagram is an alternate universe of pictures, quotes and other rather useless bits of information we millennials likely scroll through 50 times per day. I would argue that almost anyone who is an active Instagrammer has experienced the awkward encounter of seeing someone you only know via social media in public.

To those of an older generation, this would likely not be an issue; if you know someone, you know them, and if you don’t, you don’t. But no, our generation has added a whole new level of familiarity to the picture that challenges the meaning of the word “friend.”

You’re walking through the EUC having just posted a #selfiesunday containing a caption about how upset you are that all the food options are always closed. You look up only to realize one of the 457 people you follow is walking toward you.

First, there is this hazy moment when you try to grasp the idea that this person actually exists outside of your phone, and then you start to panic. She knows you, she may have even liked your picture from last week, but you two have never met in person.

With your mind racing, you remember that you know who her man-candy Monday is as well as the fact that her sister just had a baby, but yet it wouldn’t be normal to just say “hello” as you cross paths. There’s a series of awkward seconds of eye contact before you decide to go with the always safe smile and nod gesture. Phew, it’s over. You made it.

The real question is: why is this seemingly normal encounter such an awkward experience? Why do we feel comfortable knowing so many details about people’s personal lives until we see them in public?

It’s sad, really, that we cannot smoothly mesh our social media lives with our day-to-day lives. Perhaps the issue is that most of us do not have the time nor attention span to truly “follow” the lives of all of the “friends” we have on social media.

For a generation so involved with societal norms, we are making it pretty difficult on ourselves by adding these new gray areas of friendship that generate new social rules. Next time you double tap on a familiar stranger’s photo on Instagram, think of it as a commitment to breaking this awkward barrier when you come across them in public and change the rules for Instagrammers everywhere.