There are a growing numbers of people visiting popular destination only for the check-in pictures while ignore the details of the place. The main driver for this phenomenon is because of social media and trend maker. From my perspective, the increase of this trend will have a bad effect to individual’s connection from the reality.
Tiktok, Instagram and Facebook are the leaders in the social media market. On these platforms, Key Opinion Leader or KOL usually is the trend maker. Once a destination become a trend, many people tend to fear of missing out of not being the first person to check-in with a picture of themselves at the place. For example, Eiffel tower in Paris, France is the popular historical attraction but majority of the tourists just come for a check-in picture. Consequently, the unique history of the Eiffel Tower is ignored by the tourists.
The disconnection from the reality will cause many trend chasers lost the interest and happiness of visiting these new places. Exploring new destination means learning new culture, not just taking pictures and posting those on social media. In Hawaii, the expensive mobile data is not because of Hawaii’s remote area but it is because the city wants tourism to enjoy its unique nature beauty.
Overall, with the popularity of social media, more and more people are blindly taking check-in pictures while ignoring the check-in place’s beauty. The disconnection from reality makes many trend chasers lose the real joy of travel, forgetting that exploring new places is about culture and nature, not just social media.