Hi! This is the first series of my weekly soliloquy.Soliloquy is defined as: an act of speaking one’s thoughts aloud when by oneself or regardless of any hearers. To put it simply, it’s the one time of the week where I think out loud and just write everything that I’ve been thinking about, regardless of whether or not any people would read it. To put it more simply: It’s me ranting out every once a week. I hope this could be a good habit for me to keep up the consistency of this blog. I have like millions of thoughts everyday, but never have the courage to put it in writing since I thought no one would be interested in that. But heck, that’s why this one is called Weekly Soliloquy right? I need to listen and comprehend with my thoughts more.

So, I had just come home from the gym. Today, I met with three new girls who are new to this gym. The first thing that I notice is: they are all wearing similar shirts, tank top and leggings. Some of them even wear makeup on. But whatever, I continue my usual workout, warming up and everything. But these girls, they record everything that happens in the gym with their Instagram Live/Story (I don’t know the difference anymore). They took a lot of selfies, and I mean: A LOT. Wearing hand-wrap, wearing boxing gloves, trying plank, taking selfie with the trainer and everything. After the workout, one of them took a selfie in front of the mirror and showed her arm (you know – that typical gym pose). And I couldn’t help but wonder, Is Instagram becoming the main reason for us to do anything at all?

I had a thought. How many of us actually do something for the sake of doing it? Traveling for the most obvious example. One of my close friends actually said to me, "I need to go travel. Like anytime soon. My feeds is becoming so boring and I never post a travel picture." And it struck me because there are people who take their Instagram records that seriously.

Picture from: https://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/255494/travel-on-instagram-july-2015-trends.html

Or take eating, for another example. Nowadays, it’s so hard to find a decent eating place with big meals, delicious food, great service, and suitable price. You know why? Because there are hundreds of new cafes, restaurants, and coffee shops who only care about being

At some point, I certainly agree that good interior and decoration would attract more people to eat there, but when it’s all glass-wall pretty and elegant but they got just ordinary food, why should bother? That is why, nothing annoys me the most than these pretty little chic cafes who are built not to satisfy the tummy, but to satisfy our followers. I think that is also why many cafes actually go bankrupt in just short amount of time. They splurged all the big money into interior and design and not into the heart of a restaurant, which is the chef. I take eating street food with all the sweats due to no air-conditioner rather than sitting pretty in cafe whose food aren’t tasty.

What’s more, we order something not because we like it, but because we know it would look good with the Kinfolk magazine. Such as a cup of latte. Maybe we don’t even like coffee that much. But for the sake of good aesthetic picture, who can resist?

How many of us decide on where to eat based on what would look good at our Instagram picture?

Picture from: https://www.pinterest.com/trunovakaterina/kinfolk-style/

Back to Instagram. Do we realize how much Instagram affects our decision? When we decided to travel to Europe instead of Nepal, is it because we know that Eiffel Tower is prettier than Annapurna, and thus will lead to more likes and more followers? Rather than seizing and absorbing all the culinary mix in Thailand, we’d rather go to Bangkok famous cafes – which serves waffles, pasta, and steak – pretty much the menu that we can find anything in the world – just because it looks prettier?

Ah, don’t forget this fear of missing out (FOMO) syndrome. You know when certain dishes or restaurants suddenly get new hype? In my country, this is especially true when it comes to Japanese cheesecake trend. When Uncle Tetsu’s famous cheesecake finally arrives, hundreds of people line up just to get to taste it. Nothing’s wrong with that. It’s called curiosity. What’s insane is a lot of people actually buy the thing just to post in their social media – as if they are announcing that "Hey, I’m in the A-club now. I have tasted Uncle Tetsu. Love me now, please." This also happens when it comes to famous band concert. Coldplay concert, for example. Many of my friends do not even know Coldplay’s songs aside from Fix You, yet they decided to buy the ticket – just so they have the rights to brag off about it. That they can watch the concert, and we can’t. And they record the concert in their Instagram Live to make our lives (the ones who can’t afford it) miserable. How great is that?

I think if we want to be honest to ourselves, there are a lot of things that we do, just to get recognition in Instagram. Maybe we’re following certain trends, proving that we have beautiful life just like everyone else, or maybe we’re merely curious on what’s the fuss is all about. But one of my friends said: don’t get consumed by such thing. And he’s right. If all of the sudden, cheesecake is becoming a trend, and all of my Instagram-friends are eating it, I should be able to say, "I never taste Uncle Tetsu’s cheesecake so far" without fearing that it would make me look like I’m outdated or no fun, or even freak.

"Instagram should not dictate our lives. It should not dictate our appetite, our way of dressing, our sense of art, our peer circle, our favorite book, or our traveling destinations. We’re free to make that choice. And I hope we can exercise it more – making a decision not because it is Instagramable but because we genuinely want to do/eat/wear/go to/read it."

Until then, I’ll see you at the next week’s soliloquy!

Follow me at Instagram @Falen_Naoenz or find me chirping at Twitter @wandersmurf