A snap of congealed macaroni cheese; a post-gym selfie, complete with blotchy face. So far, so unglamorous. Welcome to the world of ‘unspo’ – the growing backlash against online inspiration.
Images of gourmet meals/hotdog legs/ yoga poses accompanied by cheesy earnest quotes have littered news feeds since social media arrived a decade ago. But Instagram brought a whole new level of triple-filtered, indefatigably upbeat inspo. Thankfully, unspo can give us a reality check...
**1. The Cynical Quote-spitter
**Feel like if you read ‘I choose to be happy’ or ‘Be a warrior not a worrier’ once more you might throw up? Check out Instagram’s @unspirational instead. Sample quotes: ‘The best things in life are really expensive’; ‘Started from the bottom, still at the bottom’; ‘Success is just failure that hasn’t happened yet.’ With 361k followers, signs suggest there are many misery-wallowers out there.
2. The Health Antihero
There are only so many pictures of avocado on sourdough and woman can take. Bella Younger, 27, a comedian from London, is creating a buzz with @deliciouslystella – a parody of healthier-than-thou sites. She’ll tag a bottle of gin with ‘#greenjuice’, or show off her ‘Fab abs’ (six Fab ice lollies strapped to her stomach). ‘There’s nothing wrong with aTwix. It’s time to stop obsessing about spiralizers,’ she says. Her 4,000 followers, including Davina McCall, couldn’t agree more.
3. The Social Leveller
Browsing social media can lead to feelings of body dissatisfaction, envy and loneliness. So we’re all over @womenirl, where women share the un-photoshopped reality of their lives. Out: exotic locations. In: collapsed wardrobes, dead pot plants and spilt coffees.
4. The Lovable Bore
Twitter’s @b0ringtweets has gained a following of over 250k – including Ricky Gervais – with tweets such as, ‘I’ve just been somewhere but now I’ve come back,’ and photos of staplers. Boring Tweeter explains, ‘Typical inspo is more boring than my tweets. I like to parody it with mundanity.’
**5. The Lunchtime Pick-me-up **
Feel bad you didn’t rustle up a quinoa and kale medley for lunch? Check out the atrocities some people call packed lunch on saddesklunch.com.Think fried egg on cold pasta, slimy jelly and... no, we can’t identify that one. So uninspiring it might just inspire you to escape your desk and buy a nice salad.
6. The Average Joe
Dimly Lit Meals For One on Tumblr features pictures of sad dinners and the life stories of the those tucking into them. Created by Tom Kennedy, 31, from Cambridge, it’s so popular, he’s landed a book deal.