Times have changed since the days of taking fruit from a snake and boarding an Ark when the weather takes a turn for the worse, but essentially the Seven Deadly Sins still apply in our favourite picture sharing app. Hereâs how these offences have turned Instagram into an app we love to hate:
Gluttony
A familiar scene: scrolling through your Instagram feed after demolishing a sizeable bowl of Coco Pops and someone has uploaded a rather smug photo of their ultra healthy âyoghurt and granolaâ breakfast, which immediately leaves you feeling like naughty school kid. Food fascism was one of the first Instagram phenomena, with countless pictures of dainty scallop and salad bites that are enough to make your home made spaghetti bolognese feel rather inadequate.Â
Lust (or Love)
Forget lust, love has overtaken the stakes here thanks to the many infatuated couples of Instagram shamelessly sharing their relationship bliss through the medium of the âAmaroâ filter. Except no one (especially singletons) is really interested in a âcuteâ picture of an under the thumb male and his girlfriend, in their matching onesies with vomit-inducing hashtags such as â#boyfriendâ, â#loveâ and â#happyâ. Best to keep the Insta-PDAs to a minimum.
Greed
Post-Christmas, Birthday, or just an average shopping trip? We all follow one person that makes us green with envy with their daily shots of new Kurt Keigers or a Michael Kors watch, which in turn, just makes us want more. Uh oh⊠goodbye student loan.
Vanity
Need we say more than the word of 2013 that found its way into the dictionary; all dolled up pre-night out is no longer worth it if it hasnât been photographically documented, and thus the âselfieâ was born. A concept, when you think about it, that seems ridiculously vain, but if you havenât got a master photographer like Mario Testino at your beck and call, they do say if you want something done, you should do it yourselfâŠ
Envy
Are the hashtags #WomanCrushWednesday and #fitspo familiar to you? Then youâll know all about the days when we females become self-deprecating and sad because we donât look like Victoriaâs Secret models. It all seems believable, until a bikini selfie is posted the next day that is.
Pride
If youâve made, done, or completed something youâre proud of, then of course itâs got to go on Instagram. Hell, whoâs going to know youâve finished your dissertation or that you can do a backflip unless itâs on their news feed?! OK, this sin is forgivable, but the abundance of smug âRevision set upâ snaps makes Insta a real snore around exam time.
And the one the Good Book missed out⊠Hashtagging
Weâre sure if Hashtagging existed in Biblical times, it would probably be up there with the unforgivables. Itâs a head scratcher as to why a simple photo of a landscape requires twenty separate hashtags, seemingly to grab as many likes as possible. And what on earth is the point of â#instadailyâ, â#instagoodâ and #like4like? Someone please enlighten us!