RIP 🪦 "Pics or it didn't happen"
Our need for proof or to flex has become irrelevant in the age of social influencers and AI
I originally scheduled a different piece for this week, but I got fired up about this topic and had to get it out. I swear I write about positive things, too! Soon! 😂
“Pics or it didn’t happen” was a phrase popularized in the mid-2000s to essentially force people to prove their exaggerated or unbelievable experiences. Eventually, it morphed into a meme phrase, popularized by Instagram’s photo-sharing social media platform where people were literally posting pics of said happenings.
The phrase itself seems silly now that everyone is inundated with pics (and videos) of everything, everywhere, including those that no one asked to see.
In the beginning, “pics or it didn’t happen” was a flex. When someone produced pics of an incredible experience, it was exciting! Now, it’s exhausting—and questionable.
I’ve been thinking about this phrase lately, though, as AI has begun to infiltrate our social media feeds—most recently Facebook has been inundated with ridiculous AI pics that gullible people seem to be believing (see Shrimp Jesus), to the All Eyes on Rafah AI image that was shared over 40 million times.
The phrase “fake news” also pops up in my brain a lot… how we’re easily duped because people have historically believed that a picture = truth. Remember that joke “everything you read on the Internet is true?” Shockingly, some people still believe this. Trump’s outcry of “fake news” ended up manifesting in social media, and the Internet has quickly devolved into a clickbait hellscape in which we can’t guarantee authenticity of anything.
The creation of deceptive imagery, however, is not new to the age of the computer. The first reported instance of photo editing was in the mid-1800s. We’ve Photoshopped women’s faces and bodies in magazines since the software was invented, thus turning the product’s name into a verb. Staged photos are not a new thing, either. And now, we have generative AI in the Adobe Suite that gives us editing power on steroids: the ability to create anything we could have ever imagined—and more.
The rise in popularity of social media influencers took staged pics to a whole new level. It started with faking experiences like private jets, vacations, and led to gross things “for the ‘gram” like fake environmental cleanup. Influencers even venture to spots just to take a photo and then leave, as cited by
in a recent post on Instagram boyfriends.
To me, this is the final nail in the coffin for “pics or it didn’t happen.” If you’re not really hanging out on the beach, and you’re just there to take the photo, then (in my eyes) the pics are deceptive (“pics and it didn’t happen?”). I can’t imagine going to a place for a photo but not experiencing what it’s like to be in that place, or in the moment. Renting a private jet to take photos is probably fun, but ultimately… to what end? I assume, the desire for more likes or follows. How are we to believe that people are actually doing anything? Even video can’t save us now.
We’re in an accelerated era of deception. AI will continue to devolve our experience online. Bots create fake accounts and follow and like, trying to gain followers for whatever reason, but they’re becoming more believable. In fact, there have been reports of stealing influencer videos1 to create more realistic AI bot accounts. It’s only going to get more convoluted.
One of my favorite aspects of the Internet is one’s ability to be anonymous, or create a persona for oneself. There is great freedom in that. But, just like the optimistic promises of innovative tech like crypto and AI, we’re at the point where the bad actors have spoiled it for everyone.
As I become increasingly disillusioned with my online experience, I still have hope and optimism that eventually we will get to a place where we have the proper technology to authenticate and verify humanity, and reality.2
Until then, I think the new “pics or it didn’t happen” is being there in person, in the moment, and not having to pull out your phone to document it.
No need to prove anything to anyone. That’s the ultimate flex.
404 Media is doing an excellent job reporting on all the AI deception and theft that has infiltrated our feeds. Spoiler alert: none of it is benevolent.
Interestingly, we don’t need any of this tech if we were to spend most of our time offline. Have we already ventured too far from the past to remember what it was like to be primarily analog? Perhaps. But maybe there exists a future where online is entirely fantasy.
I’m with you. Your article may have convinced me that it IS the day to retire. It all just makes me annoyed and sad at the same time. As I’ve mentioned before, I’ve been vacillating all year, and it’s been a slow death, but I think I’m finally ready to say farewell and see what my life is like off on the internet. The signs have been everywhere lately.
I too would love to see the practice die out. It gets especially odious when people take pictures or videos of themselves doing good or heroic deeds. Performative altruism kills the giving and exploits the ones being used to further the performer's ego and clout.