This year the number of people using Instagram every month surpassed the 400 million mark. That’s a lot of people, in anyone’s estimations. The year 2015 will officially go down as the year of the ’gram.
Rich Kids of Instagram, the controversial account that’s loved and hated in equal measure (either way, who doesn’t like having a glimpse at how the other 1% live?) has spawned a new Channel 4 documentary by the same name. With soundbites like, ‘I graffiti-sprayed my Birkin bag… by accident} and ‘If I’m showing off, what you going to do about it…’, it introduces us to the kids (make that ‘overgrown children’) behind the pictures.
If you’re made uneasy by unabashed exhibitionism, you might want to keep a sick bag nearby.
One of the show’s stars, Lana Scolaro is a multi-million pound mining heiress and jewellery designer who splits her time between London, Monaco and New York. Her Instagram is all helicopters, designer handbags and bikini pics. Natch. Her Instagram profile is now private, but you can get an idea of the kind of thing we mean from her Twitter pics.
Lana rose to fame in 2013 for posting a picture of herself with Robin Thicke. A mirror behind them revealed the singer’s hand clutching the 18-year old’s arse and the internet went mental. Lana’s modest Instagram following increased tenfold overnight.
‘I initially just started using Instagram for me and my friends – and posting pictures of my friends and trips abroad,’ she explains. ‘And then I had my little scandal and I somehow got 20,000 followers.’
Lana’s mother Anna also features in the programme, and despite posting regular yacht-pics and selfies to her 2,000 followers, keeps her channel private. She has strong opinions about her daughter’s use of Instagram.
‘I just have it so that I can control my daughters. It’s just creating a fantasy for other people to look at and to feel that they could be part of it,’ says Anna. ‘But that’s what teenagers do. They want to look cool. And it’s all about creating an image and a fantasy so that other people think we lead a great lifestyle, but if you go down to the basics I think it’s got a lot to do with insecurity in people.
‘I sometimes laugh at women my age, when they wake up and have a selfie of them lying in bed. I sometimes think what kind of life these people must have.’
But it’s not just the rich people of Instagram with all the money but none of the life that we need to worry about. Social media is always being blamed for causing us anxiety, FOMO, whatever you want to call it, in all of us. And not only do we suffer from it, but we perpetuate it too. Yes Lana spends 20 minutes on average editing a picture before posting it – but so have I, and I bet you have too.
The show’s assistant producer Imogen Wynell-Mayow says filming was really eye-opening, and completely changed how she uses the app. ‘I changed my account to private, and I’m also slowly unfollowing celebrity accounts or profiles that I feel present unattainable lifestyles. I think constantly looking at fantasy snaps charading as reality can breed a lot of negativity.’
We use Instagram to show an edited, improved version of ourselves. And Lana uses it to flash her cash, and her parent’s cash, and to ‘keep in touch with friends’.
‘Nowadays, instead of people asking for your phone number they’ll ask what your Instagram is. That’s how you get to know someone in this world,’ she says. ‘People will look at your pictures and they’ll just automatically know what kind of person you are.’
Personally, I’d be worried about someone judging me based on my Instagram account, but Lana doesn’t seem too bothered. ‘I come across as quite obnoxious on my Instagram, but I’m actually very down to earth,’ she confides. ‘I just like taking photos of nice things. But that doesn’t decide who I am as a person. It’s fun, but it’s not really me.’
The Rich Kids of Instagram is on Channel 4 tonight at 9 pm.
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This article originally appeared on The Debrief.