To begin my exploration of holistic health as it is portrayed on Instagram, I simply searched "Holistic" under the hashtag search bar. There are over 80,000 photos currently on Instagram that are not private, and linked to the concept of holistic health via #holistic. At this point, the concepts that surround holistic health such as meditation, healing, clean eating, and prayer are all grouped together. These photos showed what people are sharing and thinking surrounding the idea of health that not just covers your physical well being, but your emotional and mental well being.
I became an avid Instagram user about a year and a half ago, and have been in love with it since. I find myself on Instagram daily, looking a the photos of those I follow, weather it be what they are doing/eating/thinking that day, a "throw back" of the good ole days, or an uplifting quote. By using Instagram I can generally stay in the loop of what's going on, even on my busiest day. What I have recently come to love about Instagram as I've been using it in more interesting ways, is the connection of ideas, information, and creativity Instagram can bring between people all over the world in a matter of moments. Connections to ideas are made on Instagram using hashtags, location check-in's, and tagging other users. For me, the ideas I was both looking for and posting about were connected by the idea of holistic health. This topic is one that I have recently become interested in. As a way to better understand what Holistic Health is, I decided to use the features of Instagram to teach me. To begin my exploration of holistic health as it is portrayed on Instagram, I simply searched "Holistic" under the hashtag search bar. There are over 80,000 photos currently on Instagram that are not private, and linked to the concept of holistic health via #holistic. At this point, the concepts that surround holistic health such as meditation, healing, clean eating, and prayer are all grouped together. These photos showed what people are sharing and thinking surrounding the idea of health that not just covers your physical well being, but your emotional and mental well being. The picture above was one that I found under the holistic hashtag from the user @thrive_chiropractic_brightonco. This quote by Thomas Edison shows the idea of Holistic health through innovation of healthy eating and the cause and prevention of disease. This goes against the common idea of prescription medicine that "treats" diseases rather than preventing them in society. Edison lived from 1847 to 1931 and still related to the need for treatment for people that covers all aspects of their well-being. From this photo I found other hashtags that kept the theme of holistic health such as #nutrition #chiropractor #cleaneats and #fitness. I used these has tags to search other themes of holistic health, and kept clicking on new hashtags and users who posted about those themes. Each time I found a new hashtag, I was finding a new theory of holistic health that people are exploring and sharing on Instagram. I found that holistic health is more popular to Instagram users than I had originally thought. Once I got an overall idea of what holistic health meant, I realized the many aspects of including this type of living into everyday routines. For instance, aspects of holistic health including yoga, green smoothies, crystal healing, and chiropractors all had over 50,000 pictures or video's. I explored these themes and posted some of my own. By practicing elements of holistic health and posting about it on my Instagram account, I was able to get a better understanding of what it means to live this way, and how this lifestyle directly affects a person's well-being. The more I was practicing yoga I was feeling relaxed and centered in my daily life, the more I was drinking water rather than soda, I was less bloated and suffered through less headaches. Meditation and healthy eating habits assured me that holistic health can be life changing and easy to practice. There are plenty of ways to find meditation throughout your day, as many Instagram users posted ideas like yoga, reading, playing with a pet, writing, or going for a jog. Forms of eating clean included green smoothies, raw fruits and veggies, and grilled foods rather than fried foods. Finally, some ways that Instagram users practice healing were through crystals, prayer, or nature. The more I was fitting all of these concepts together, I noticed many of my own friends on Instagram were using holistic health in their daily lives. Overall, using Instagram to further explore holistic health showed me not only the benefits of this lifestyle, but how powerful of a tool Instagram can be for spreading ideas, connecting them with other ideas, and learning more about a particular concept.
2 Comments
4/1/2014 03:52:58 am
I agree with you that this project has really opened up my eyes as well to how powerful Instagram can be because it really does connect us with other people very quickly and in new and creative ways. I think it is so interesting how through one hashtag you were led to other hashtags and posts people were making because you are getting to see how expansive your topic truly is. I really enjoyed reading about what you were finding and how you were making so many connections and learning new things through a form of social media.
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4/5/2014 05:57:09 am
Thanks for your comment! I was surprised to see where one hashtag led me as well. This project definitely showed me that Instagram can be used in so many more ways that I was originally aware, its a great research tool =]
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Brittany KummerRowan University Archives
May 2014
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