This J-term, nearly 600 St. Thomas students studied abroad in 22 different countries. For those of us who use Instagram, the traveling is impossible to miss. Every January, we scroll past a filtered and cropped set of photos featuring beautiful cathedrals, fine foods and students waving flags on mountaintops. The #tommiesabroad hashtag has more than 1,700 posts. The Office of Study Abroad even used advertisements with the tagline “Insta-worthy photos around every corner” to promote the semester in Rome program.

The increasing prevalence of Instagram travel photos raises serious questions about people’s motivations for studying abroad, as well as their involvement in the experience of traveling itself. When someone studies abroad and posts an eye-catching photo on social media, they send the message to their followers that studying abroad is an attractive thing to do. It seems as though travel photos are a badge of honor on Instagram. They make a person seem worldly and exciting, and cool Instagram photos get likes and earn followers.

How many of us have seen an Instagram travel photo and thought, “Wow, I want to be like that!”? It makes traveling seem trendy. While most of us probably aren’t thinking that we should study abroad just to gain more Instagram followers, it’s difficult to deny the “cool” factor in our decisions. On some level, we’re chasing a certain aesthetic image for ourselves.

Is this a valid reason to study abroad? I argue that there are better reasons. It’s about exposing yourself to an unfamiliar culture and having experiences you could not have in your home country. It’s about learning in a unique, hands-on environment that takes advantage of the beauty, diversity and challenge that the world’s many countries offer.

While you’re studying abroad, the urge to find the perfect Instagram photo is strong. When I studied abroad last January, I felt it, too. There is certainly value in taking some travel photos, but when you’re constantly scouting the next great shot to go with that great caption you wrote, are you really living in the moment? Taking photos to preserve memories or to create art is one thing, but the temptation and pressure to post is yet another element that removes you from the present. It’s a mental distraction that keeps you from fully immersing yourself in a new culture. Also, many of the so-called candid shots I see on Instagram actually take time and energy to compose. That’s time and energy you aren’t using to explore your destination.

Finally, it’s easy to forget that Instagram photos present a curated view of reality. We Instagram the clean and colorful images of the country, and we don’t share the poverty, political upheaval or pollution that is the reality for so many places. The perfect views shared on social media make it all too easy to forget about this reality.

There’s nothing inherently wrong with taking travel photos, or even posting them on Instagram. I feel the temptation, too, and it can be rewarding when used in moderation. But I urge students to challenge their own motivations for studying abroad, and to resist the pressure to see the world through Instagram’s lens instead of our own eyes. Ask yourself: If you couldn’t Instagram your trip to a certain country, would you still go?