Has social media made sightseeing deeply uncool?

In April 2024, I visited sunny Barcelona for the first time and was swept away by Antoni Gaudí’s surrealist architecture. I’m certain that for a brief moment, sunbathing under the stained glass of the Sagrada Familia, I forgot how to breathe. Later that evening, as I swiped through my iPhone gallery, hearting the photos that were Instagram Story-worthy, something adjacent to shame took over. As I pored over the pictures from that day, I recalled a friend’s caption on a photo of Gaudi’s iconic basilica. Posted as a vacation throwback in the lockdown of 2020, the text read: “I’ll never go to mainstream monuments if you let me travel again.” Years later, I couldn’t be seen this excited about a “mainstream monument” that attracts 5 million visitors a year. So let’s discard that post. I loved the nougat shops that lined the exterior of the cathedral but those are such obvious tourist traps so let’s unheart that as well. After 40 minutes of cool-girl scrutiny and cropping, I picked photos of a vintage concept store, a sandwich shop recommended by a friend, and a cactus garden overlooking the beach that few tourists know about. Satisfied, I posted the dump with nonchalant captions and random emojis, desperate for the “where is this”, “where are you?!!” replies to flood in. Someone even asked for my itinerary.  SEE ALSO: Give yourself some summer travel insurance with these Tile trackers on sale Success: I had passed the test for being a non-mainstream tourist. While this…Has social media made sightseeing deeply uncool?