Article of the Week Penn’s Grove Middle School

Made-For-Instagram Experiences are Becoming the New Rage

Instructions: COMPLETE ALL QUESTIONS AND MARGIN NOTES using the CLOSE reading strategies practiced in class. This requires reading the article three times.

Step 1: Skim the article using these symbols as you read:(+) agree, (-) disagree, (*) important, (!) surprising, and (?) wondering

Step 2: Number the paragraphs. Read the article carefully and make notes in the margin. Notes should include:

● Comments that show that you understand the article. (A summary or statement of the main idea of important sections may serve this purpose.)

● Questions you have that show what you are wondering about as you read.● Notes that differentiate between fact and opinion.● Observations about how the writer’s strategies (organization, word choice, literary devices,

perspective, support) and choices affect the article.Step 3: A final quick read noting anything you may have missed during the first two reads.

Your margin notes are a part of your score for this assessment. Answer the questions carefully in complete sentences unless otherwise instructed.

Student Name: __________________________________ Class Period: ___________

Made-for-Instagram Experiences are Becoming the New RageBy Smithsonian.com, adapted by Newsela staff, 11/14/2017

The city of George Town, in the Malaysian state of Penang, has long drawn tourists to its streets. The sherbet-colored shophouses, intricately tiled courtyards and historic temples and mosques make for great photos. But in recent years something else has been attracting camera-toting travelers: dozens of street art murals that practically beg to become selfie backdrops on Instagram.

Penang is one of a number of cities taking advantage of the wildly popular photo-based social media apps. Instagram, for example, has 800 million users, which is more than a tenth of the world’s population. It’s part of a wider phenomenon of public and private spaces being designed to appeal to users of such apps. This phenomenon is changing our visual landscapes on the streets and in restaurants, stores, museums and more. Call it the “Instagramization” of the world.

Restaurants have been at the forefront of Instagramization. Since social media mentions can make or break a restaurant’s success, owners have become attuned to what visual aspects of food and décor appeal to customers. This means restaurants have become lighter and brighter. Chefs are creating dishes specifically designed to go viral, what some call “stunt food.”

Promoting Photo-Friendly SpacesRetail stores have the same incentives to create photo-friendly spaces. While some say social media is killing traditional shopping, stores are doing what they can to harness it.Laureen Moyal is the designer behind some of New York’s most-Instagrammed restaurants. She says the value businesses are placing on a social media look ramped up “very aggressively”

Notes on my thoughts, reactions, and questions as I read:

Notes on my thoughts, reactions, and questions

as I read

Article of the Week Penn’s Grove Middle School

Made-For-Instagram Experiences are Becoming the New Rage

over the past year or so.

Museums are also playing the game. Large-scale, immersive exhibits, such as “Wonder” at the Smithsonian’s Renwick Gallery two years ago, have become Instagram hits. Nora Atkinson is the Lloyd Herman Curator of Craft at the Renwick Gallery. “It’s impossible to prevent (photo-taking)," she says, "so why not get with the program and the 21st century and allow it as much as you can?”

Perhaps the culmination of Instagramization is an entirely new category of cultural institution, the made-for-Instagram “experience.” The best-known example is The Museum of Ice Cream in San Francisco, California, the hashtag #museumoficecream has 93,000 posts and counting. The exhibit is a series of rooms that are basically photo sets. The “museum” has been wildly popular, with six-month runs selling out in 90 minutes.

Experiencing Everything TwicePatrick Janelle is a famed Instagrammer with 460,000 followers and he’s just gotten back from a trip to The Museum of Ice Cream. He’s been Instagramming professionally for about two and a half years. These days, everything is experienced twice, Janelle says -- first in real life, and second when we share it on social media. “So even if something isn’t designed especially for social media, I think there’s always an emphasis on ‘how does this render digitally?’” he says.

Instagram seems to be changing the aspects and elements of a city that travelers find worthwhile. Travel writers are increasingly producing stories with titles like “The Most Instagrammable Street Art in LA (Los Angeles, California)” and “The Most Instagrammable Places in London (England).” These lists often include places well off the standard tourist track.

Michiel de Lange is a professor of new media studies at Utrecht University in the Netherlands. He says many cities are trying to brand themselves through visual storytelling. One increasingly popular tactic is so-called “pop-up urbanism.” Cities turn empty lots into temporary beer gardens or make a busy street into a pedestrian playground for a weekend. Such events often prove to be very Instagramable.

But some say the Instagramization of the world is leading to a troubling sameness. Kyle Chayka of The Guardian writes that social media is spreading a generic look across the globe. You can travel from London to Los Angeles to Hong Kong and find coffee shops, hotels, and offices with the same Instagram-friendly traits.

“Why go anywhere if it just ends up looking the same as whatever global city you started from?” he asks.

Doing What Everyone Else Is DoingThen there’s the idea that social media encases you in a bubble. You see where people like you are going, what they’re eating, what they’re liking, via Instagram or Facebook, then do the same yourself. As de Lange points out, this opposes the values of urban city experts like Jane Jacobs. Jacobs believed that one of a city’s greatest purposes was to bring diverse or different groups of strangers together.

Article of the Week Penn’s Grove Middle School

Made-For-Instagram Experiences are Becoming the New Rage

Then, of course, there’s the belief that viewing the world through your phone’s camera is an impoverished way to live. Instead of snapping pictures, you should simply be looking, critics say.

Janelle, as big an Instagram booster as they come, does think there’s value in not always trying to snap a picture. “Ultimately what we want are really wonderful experiences,” Janelle says. “And sure we want to be able to document them on social media, but we also crave things that are just really wonderful and special in real life.”

Comprehension & Vocabulary Questions -- answers may be in phrases

1. Which answer choice describes two MAIN ideas in the article?

a. Many public and private spaces are working to make themselves more Instagram-worthy to attract more people; some worry that this makes places too similar and that people miss out on real life by focusing on taking photos for social media.

b. Instagram is becoming an increasingly powerful way to attract people to restaurants, museums and cities; many of these places now rely on gimmicks to pull people in to take photos that will go viral on social media platforms.

c. People in charge of many public and private spaces know that they must rely on Instagram to keep their businesses open and thriving; unfortunately, this means that more and more places around the world are beginning to look the same as they follow Instagram trends.

d. Instagram is the most popular photo-sharing platform, so many businesses and cities are trying to increase their Instagram appeal; this focus on Instagramability is making many people feel like nothing is special anymore.

2. Which two of the following sentences from the article include CENTRAL ideas of the article?

1. Instagram, for example, has 800 million users, which is more than a tenth of the world’s population.2. This phenomenon is changing our visual landscapes on the streets and in restaurants, stores,

museums and more.3. She says the value businesses are placing on a social media look ramped up “very aggressively” over

the past year or so.4. Then, of course, there’s the belief that viewing the world through your phone’s camera is an

impoverished way to live.

a. 1 and 2b. 1 and 4c. 3 and 4d. 2 and 4

3. Which of the following MOST influenced Michiel de Lange’s opinion about social media?a. Kyle Chayka’s journalism on the growing sameness in citiesb. The rise of “pop-up urbanism” in many citiesc. Jane Jacobs’ belief about the purpose of citiesd. The effectiveness of social media as a method of visual storytelling

Article of the Week Penn’s Grove Middle School

Made-For-Instagram Experiences are Becoming the New Rage

4. According to the article, how is Instagram affecting travel?

5. What does the word attuned mean, as it is used in the passage?

6. What is the effect of the second person point of view in the article?

7. The article says, “But some say the Instagramization of the world is leading to a troubling sameness.” Do you agree or disagree with this statement? Be sure to explain your reasoning, citing specific evidence from the text.

Article of the Week Penn’s Grove Middle School

Made-For-Instagram Experiences are Becoming the New Rage

This assignment addresses the following ELA Standards: E07.B-K.1.1.1, E07.B-K.1.1.3, E07.B-K.1.1.2, E07.B-C.2.1.2, E07.B-V.4.1.1