TY - JOUR T1 - Instagram And Perception Of Reality: How Visual Culture Blurs Boundaries Between Authenticity And Representation TT - Instagram Ve Gerçeklik Algısı: Görsel Kültürün Özgünlük İle Temsil Arasındaki Sınırları Bulanıklaştırması AU - Devrim Eserol, Nehir PY - 2026 DA - June Y2 - 2026 DO - 10.55609/yenimedya.1861437 JF - Yeni Medya PB - Ankara Hacı Bayram Veli Üniversitesi WT - DergiPark SN - 2587-1285 SP - 20 EP - 38 IS - 20 LA - en AB - The research investigates how Instagram allows students to acquire practical knowledge by experiencing edited content and visual effects and algorithmic presentation in their actual encounters. The research uses Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis to study 20 heavy Instagram users (18–24 years old) who show how they understand Instagram as a filtered platform yet accept its perfect images as their life assessment standards. The research shows Instagram functions as a dual reality platform which shows curated content about beauty and success and lifestyle to establish new standards for user self-evaluation and life expectations. The research demonstrates Instagram modifies user reality through three distinct methods which include content editing and filter application and social comparison assessment. The research shows women experience more appearance-based stress than men who hold incorrect beliefs about female appearance and social expectations and status definitions. The combination of virtual and real elements creates emotional effects which include anxiety, self-doubt, identity breakdown, and decreased life satisfaction. The research adds new knowledge about digital selfhood and hyperreality and mediatized identity while demonstrating the requirement for media literacy education that teaches students to handle emotional and relational and aesthetic aspects of digital existence. KW - Instagram KW - Perception of reality KW - Digital identity KW - Media literacy KW - Perceived reality KW - Digital self-presentation N2 - Bu araştırma, Instagram’ın düzenlenmiş içerik, görsel efektler ve algoritmik sunum aracılığıyla öğrencilerin gerçek karşılaşmaları içinde pratik bilgi edinmelerine nasıl olanak tanıdığını incelemektedir. Araştırmada, Instagram’ı filtrelenmiş bir platform olarak algılamalarına rağmen kusursuz imgelerini yaşamlarını değerlendirme ölçütü olarak benimseyen 18–24 yaş aralığındaki 20 yoğun Instagram kullanıcısı, Yorumlayıcı Fenomenolojik Analiz (Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis) yöntemiyle incelenmiştir. Araştırma bulguları, Instagram’ın güzellik, başarı ve yaşam tarzına ilişkin özenle seçilmiş içerikler sunarak kullanıcıların öz değerlendirme ve yaşam beklentileri için yeni standartlar oluşturan çift katmanlı bir gerçeklik platformu olarak işlev gördüğünü ortaya koymaktadır. Çalışma, Instagram’ın kullanıcı gerçekliğini üç temel yöntem aracılığıyla dönüştürdüğünü göstermektedir: içerik düzenleme, filtre kullanımı ve sosyal karşılaştırma temelli değerlendirme süreçleri. Araştırma, kadınların erkeklere kıyasla görünüşe dayalı stresi daha yoğun yaşadığını, erkeklerin ise kadın görünümü ile toplumsal beklentiler ve statü tanımları hakkında yanlış inançlara sahip olduğunu ortaya koymaktadır. Sanal ve gerçek unsurların birleşimi; kaygı, öz-şüphe, kimlik çözülmesi ve yaşam doyumunda azalma gibi duygusal etkiler üretmektedir. Bu araştırma, dijital benlik, hipergerçeklik ve dolayımlanmış kimlik (mediatized identity) alanlarına yeni bilgiler eklerken, öğrencilerin dijital varoluşun duygusal, ilişkisel ve estetik boyutlarıyla baş edebilmelerini sağlayacak bir medya okuryazarlığı eğitiminin gerekliliğini de ortaya koymaktadır. CR - Akintola, A. A. (2024). 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