I've complained about Instagram before, accusing it of being just a dumbed-down Photoshop. But apparently that complaint accomplished nothing, because it's still annoying me. Just to be clear, I've never used it. I'm just complaining about the effect it has on the world.
The latest problem came when I tried photo-editing on my cell-phone. I didn't expect a lot from the software that came with the phone: basically just, well, an actual dumbed-down Photoshop. But instead it seemed to be a dumbed-down Instagram. Having used photo-editing software on computers for years, I'm used to thinking in terms of intensity, saturation, or brightness. But it's giving me options like "vignette," "fisheye," and "film grain." I had to sort through these faux-retro effects to find more basic controls. I don't care about sepia, just let me adjust the damn contrast.
But besides cluttering photo software, there's the effect of all the Instagrammed photos themselves. (Has Instagram become a verb yet? It is now.) You'd think the whole trend would have come full-circle by now. We all know the script: it goes from intriguing to trendy to mainstream to clichéd. Well, I'm sick of seeing fake frayed edges on digital pictures, especially when the photo is in the middle of a modern web page. When are the rest of you catching up?
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