Stars and Instagram go together like bread and butter, right? After all, where else can you endlessly advertise your brand and bring awareness to your every action in a way that often doesn’t even require text?
But not every star is so keen about Instagram and one of them is the Queen of Pop herself, Madonna, who talked about coming of age as a star in an era when Instagram didn’t dictate everything.
In a recent interview with The Sun, Madonna said: “I was lucky enough to have a life as an artist before the phone and Instagram and social media because I did have that time to develop as an artist and a human without feeling the pressure of judgment of other people or comparing myself to other people [..] social media culture runs people’s lives and makes it harder for artists to stick to their guns and be who they are.”
One of the pop icon’s main concerns seems to be that Instagram breeds a kind of homogeneity in its output. This is not just an anecdotal observation but something that research has uncovered as well. As to whether or not Instagram makes people feel bad about themselves, that’s the subject of another study, but we have cited numerous cases where analysis of the top Instagram photos not only reveals the same locations but also the same poses and even filter choices.
Madonna explained the need for people who are unique and do things differently, saying, “The world needs that. We need voices that are unique, we need inspiration. And that’s what people don’t understand — I want our other artists to think outside the box.”
The star joins a growing chorus of celebrities that question the ultimate utility of the app with FStoppers citing Selena Gomez’s recent comments about uninstalling the app on her smartphone as proof positive of the trend towards moving away from Instagram because of its perceived negative influences.