It started with food, then moved swiftly on to interiors, and now it seems, nothing is worth doing, eating, or visiting unless it’s ‘Instagrammable’.
Dubious studies undertaken by companies claiming to have found ‘the most Instagrammable spots’ fill junk email folders around the world, like this one we recently received from Niagara Falls Tickets and Tours.
They allegedly analyzed Instagram data for over 400 of the world’s waterfalls to discover which waterfall everyone is talking about and, would you believe it, Niagara Falls came out on top!
According to the tourism company, Niagara Falls “Has been named the most Instagrammable waterfall in the world”, with over 4.2 million hashtagged posts.
They claim Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe is next, with 381,614 hashtags, and then Skógafoss in Iceland with 48,836.
At no point does the "study" compensate for factors like population density / relative phone ownership / Instagram membership etc. in Zimbabwe or Iceland versus the U.S. / Canada border.
The Niagara Falls are one of the most spectacular natural wonders of the world, with an origin story stretching back to the Ice Age. Spanning across both the U.S and Canada, the gargantuan waters are able to produce 4 million kilowatts of electricity for Canada and the U.S. and they are the second largest waterfalls in the world.
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Why then, do they need to look good on a phone screen to entice people to visit?
Is the only way to attract tourists to these wonders of the world these days to seduce Instagram users with the hope of a good upload?
Gone, it seems, are the days when enthusiasts with the best cameras are the focal point of targeted travel marketing. Early clickbait articles used to be more along the lines of ‘Ten Best Places To SEE Before You Die’. See, not upload. Or even ‘Most Photographed Locations…’
This obsession with everything and anything needing to look worthy of social media above all else is a problem. We see our surroundings merely as a backdrop to our own online portfolios, and in this desperate need for content and clicks, we disregard and pollute our remaining natural wonders.
This dystopian present is summed up rather well by a TripAdvisor review of Niagara Falls from a person going by the name of ‘Meredith’ with the tagline “Just OK”.
“I was very exc6to get here. Once I got here, it was just ok. I walked down the stairs where there were many plastic bottles thrown all over the place.”
Similarly, this review by ‘PellingSimAnderson’ of the 2,500-year-old Acropolis in Athens, Greece suggests that it wouldn’t be getting a spot on their grid:
“Upclose, there was nothing much left of the iconic building. We went up on a roof garden restaurant which had a much better view of this historical site.”
If you prefer to remember your travels with higher quality photos, why not look at our best travel camera picks.
