Nowadays, most people choose to live a life online that is totally different from their real one. That is, until they are called out by someone who knows how they really are and get exposed for their lies.
The internet is full of strange and mysterious things, so much so that prudent individuals have learned to never believe everything they see. The popularity of top social media sites like Twitter, Facebook, and the photo and video-sharing platform Instagram has created pressure for people to present the perfect life online.
This has left us with social media that is full of photos that are not real. From people posting pictures of cars, watches, and luxury items that they don’t own to pretending they are in places they are not. These misconceptions are usually harmless, done to gain followers, increase their fanbase, or for fun.
However, a budding Instagram influencer has learned a hard lesson about telling lies on the internet after her sister called her out for faking a social media post in a now-viral tweet that has left the internet in stitches.
That didn’t go as planned
Casey Sosnowski, a freshman at Florida Atlantic University, expected her latest Instagram post would get her some much-needed attention and increase her following, but instead, she has gotten a different type of fame thanks to her older sister Carly, a student at Florida International University.[1]
The post featured Casey in a perfect pose with her arms out wide, holding a water bottle, and dressed in athleisure wear. The picture was taken right before her hike at Lake Okahumpka Park and Trail in Florida. The sporty shot was tagged with the popular hiking location with the caption:
“Nature is the ultimate healer to all our problems,” along with the hashtag #naturelovers.[2]
The post had all the makings of an expertly crafted Instagram classic, the trees were lush, the trail was inviting and well-trodden, everything looked perfect. The only problem: it was all fake.
Casey failed to mention that she had posed for the photo in her own backyard. This deliberate attempt to mislead her followers on Instagram may have been successful if not for her sister, Carly, who posted a “behind the scenes” photo of her sister posing near a particularly lush part of their backyard.[3]
This post, which was done on the popular microblogging site, Twitter, showed a screengrab of her sister’s Instagram post, along with the revealing shot of Casey posing for photos. Carly captioned the pictures as: “My sister said she was going hiking…..this is our backyard.”
Surprising results
To her surprise, Carly’s tweet showing the other side of what we see online quickly went viral. It currently has over 41K retweets, 278K likes, and 841 comments, which showed many people found the story hilarious too. It also received several comments from people who were impressed by the size of the backyard, which actually looks a lot like a hiking spot.
As would be expected, Casey didn’t take it too lightly and responded to her sister, saying she felt “personally attacked,” before updating her Instagram picture to suggest that the image was actually taken at her backyard.
“Did I go hiking? No. Is this my backyard?… Maybe,” she wrote, along with a winking-eye emoji.[4]
“I told my little sister, let’s go outside and take pictures by our wooded area because I haven’t posted on Instagram since the beginning of July, so I figured it was about time I posted something,” Casey told reporters. “I thought the background was really pretty, so we took pictures over there, and after I got home and posted it, I told my family, ‘Look, it looks like I was going for a hike.’ So, then my sister Carly posted it.” [3]
Thankfully, there is no bad blood between both sisters as they have since talked it out with Casey saying that she simply thought the post was funny and didn’t expect it to get this much attention.
“It just goes to show that not everyone’s life is as perfect as it seems on Instagram,” said Casey.
Wearing your ‘doubting’ lenses while on social media
Social media — the first form of media that allows people to share their feelings, thoughts, and lives publicly — has become dangerously unreliable. From cries of “fake news” to the emergence of trolls, robots, pseudo-followers and other ways to influence people’s reactions, it is difficult to know who, what, or where to trust.[6]
Even though you and your friends use social networks to communicate with each other, but most people out there, especially influencers, use it as a business tool to earn money. They plan their posts and show off an admirable lifestyle to grow their followers so they can make money from them. The key to navigating social media is understanding that most of what you see is fake, designed to get you to give up your money.
Reference:
- “Busted! College student calls out her Instagram-loving sister for posting a FAKE picture of herself on a ‘hike’ that was actually taken in their backyard – and leaves Twitter in hysterics“, Daily Mail. August 2019.
- “College Student Calls Out Sister For Posting Fake Instagram Hiking Photos“, Healthy Food House. August 2019.
- “Woman Hilariously Calls Out Her Sister for Fake Hiking Photo She Posted on Instagram“, Travel and Leisure. August 2019.
- “Woman calls out sister for fake Instagram ‘hiking’ photos, goes viral“, Fox News. August 2019.
- “Why Everyone and Everything on Social Media Is Fake“, Entrepreneur. August 2018.