↗ Reply to: the commodification of travel
• 246 words • 2 min • updated
Herman Martinus:
I’ve noticed that travel has become, of late, an act of collecting places. I’ve literally heard people referring to visiting a place as doing that place, as in “Have you done Japan?”, assuming that one can do an entire country, and once that country is done it remains as such. As if a place is a product to be consumed and checked off the list. Why bother returning to a place if you’ve already done it?
This is the byproduct of social media.
Like many things, I blame social media. It’s changed travel from an exploration to social status signalling.
Bragging.
That isn’t to say taking photos is bad. They’re a great way to share an experience with others and save a memory of a time and place—but I think the threshold of what is enough has been crossed in the age of Instagram where images and video are socially valuable. Now beautiful places are commodified. And I don’t know if we’ll ever go back.
Exactly.
I’ve been out of Instagram for 6+ months by now. Recently I had the opportunity to explore a major big city in another country. For the first time in a long time, I had zero urge to take a myriad of photos. I had very little desire to do the popular touristic attractions. I explored the city at my own pace. It was peaceful. There was no social pressure of any kind. Why hasn’t this been the default?