Have you ever stopped to think, what role do ‘numbers’ play in our lives? Numbers on our watches, marks in school and zeroes in our salary. Society measures success by these numbers and off late, there have been some new entrants on the scene. You’ve probably already guessed, they are the number of likes, comments and followers we have on social media!
Byron Denton, a 19-year-old London-based vlogger, observed that many influencers were faking Instagram photos to increase their numbers and decided to perform a little experiment.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BstV7DuBGBQ/
His inspiration for this social experiment was YouTuber George Mason, who had faked an entire vacation using Photoshop. He reveals,
“After seeing my recommended box get filled with videos of people faking holidays or going on tv shows I thought it would be fun to put my own twist on it and FAKE being rich on instagram for a whole ass week!!”
This is one of his edited pictures where he superimposed designer shopping bags using FaceTune and PicsArt apps. He also used Lightroom to add some finishing touches.
This Photoshopped private jet image earned him almost 1000 likes in 7 seconds! By the end of the week, his follower count also massively shot up.
In an interview with Insider, Byron said that it took him around 45 minutes to edit each photo but surprisingly, everyone believed them to be real.
“[The experiment has] made me question everyone’s moves on social media. Do a lot of the high-profile bloggers these days actually make their way to the top by being honest or do they fake some of it?”
Curious to see all the behind-the-scenes action? Check it out here!
This proves that social media engagement increases in direct proportion to luxury shopping sprees and travelling to exotic locations. Maybe our obsession with a rich lifestyle and perfectly curated feeds has reached unhealthy levels and it’s time for a digital detox!