Social media can be tricky at times. People are able to present themselves in any way that they see fit. Many of us allow other people’s feeds to convince us that we are not doing enough when, in reality, we are merely falling victim to their trickery. They only show us their highlights and they do not show us the downtimes of their lives.
In some cases, the people that we follow on social media are lying to us entirely. Take this story, for instance. Have you ever been to IKEA? Of course, you have. This furniture store is a great place to spend a day. You’ll go in and want to buy one thing. The next thing you know, you’ve got a whole new living room set and you’re sitting down to eat at their restaurant.
The store also provides no shortage of chances to stunt for your Instagram friends. You shouldn’t believe everything that you see while you are browsing the ‘Gram’ and here’s why. Natalia Taylor is a well known Instagram influencer who decided that it was time to play a funny prank. She wanted to convince her followers that she was actually on vacation.
In reality, she was simply spending some time at her local IKEA. Would she be able to con her followers into going along with this ruse? In a word….yes! “Immediately, people started buying it,” she said in a YouTube clip that she uploaded right after the prank.
Maybe this story is the wake-up call that we all need. Stop assuming that the Instagram users you follow are living the sweet life on an everyday basis. There is a good chance that they are going through all of the same struggles that you do. Those who are a bit better at the whole critical thinking thing were able to pick up on the Easter eggs that she was leaving behind during the prank.
Anyone who has been to IKEA before and embraces their inner skeptic probably figured it out pretty quickly. That’s the way that it should be, of course. Some of her followers were not fooled, so this gives us some hope for humanity. Please share this story as a valuable reminder that we should never allow ourselves to believe everything that we see on our smartphone screens.