I Think Instagram Ruined Good Taste
We hosted a party recently at my family home.
Somewhere in the middle of the evening, a guest walked in, opened her phone, and began taking pictures. Not one or two. Not a quick photo for a story. She moved through the rooms methodically, phone raised, documenting objects on the mantel, arrangements on the console, corners of the kitchen. It went on long enough that other guests noticed. It went on long enough that my mother, who has spent decades quietly collecting the pieces in this house, noticed.
The woman did not know us well. She had not been invited to visit the house. She had been invited to a party at the house. Those are different things. I do not think she meant harm. But by the time she was done, she had walked through a private home the way a stranger walks through a museum, and it made me sit down and think about something I had been feeling for a while.
I think Instagram ruined good taste. I also think it might have ruined something bigger.
The problem is not photos. The problem is entitlement.
