RIP đȘŠ "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! đ
âPics or it didnât happenâ 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 Instagramâs 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, âpics or it didnât happenâ was a flex. When someone produced pics of an incredible experience, it was exciting! Now, itâs exhaustingâand questionable.
Iâve been thinking about this phrase lately, though, as AI has begun to infiltrate our social media feedsâmost 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 âfake newsâ also pops up in my brain a lot⊠how weâre easily duped because people have historically believed that a picture = truth. Remember that joke âeverything you read on the Internet is true?â Shockingly, some people still believe this. Trumpâs outcry of âfake newsâ ended up manifesting in social media, and the Internet has quickly devolved into a clickbait hellscape in which we canât 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. Weâve Photoshopped womenâs faces and bodies in magazines since the software was invented, thus turning the productâs 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 imaginedâand 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 âfor the âgramâ 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 âpics or it didnât happen.â If youâre not really hanging out on the beach, and youâre just there to take the photo, then (in my eyes) the pics are deceptive (âpics and it didnât happen?â). I canât imagine going to a place for a photo but not experiencing what itâs 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 canât save us now.
Weâre 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 theyâre becoming more believable. In fact, there have been reports of stealing influencer videos1 to create more realistic AI bot accounts. Itâs only going to get more convoluted.
One of my favorite aspects of the Internet is oneâs 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, weâre 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 âpics or it didnât happenâ 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. Thatâs 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 donât 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.
Iâm 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 Iâve mentioned before, Iâve been vacillating all year, and itâs been a slow death, but I think Iâm 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.