How Tumblr informed our preferences

Contribution by Tanya Barlow.

Tanya Barlow reflects on how Tumblr had an impact on her choices. From visual aesthetics to dating and relationships, Tanya muses on how the OG of social media sites, informed her preferences.

Had you asked me about Tumblr in 2011, the little girl version of me – twelve years young to be specific – would gasp and ask you what fandoms you were in, if you knew how to hardcode your blog background and if we had any mutual followings. Tumblr was pivotal in dictating the kind of person my tween years would inhabit and, even if I was reluctant to admit it then, it would inform the psyche of a now twenty-one-year-old version of myself too. There’s a strong correlation between my love for purple-pink neon lighting, tennis skirts, sensory art and my prolonged use of Tumblr in my formative years. I still even refer to myself using my Tumblr URL name.

Now we see and hear trend-forecasting, the curation of memes for marketing, guessing what cycles of fashion and culture will come back around from the dead and present themselves in a new era – but Tumblr has been at the silent forefront of these budding trends before they’ve revealed themselves to the mainstream world. The birthplace of ‘hipster’ culture and a catalyst for fanbases to grow into the hundreds of thousands of supporters, this multi-media blogging site encouraged individuality and freedom of expression.

This had its inevitable upsides, like the open discussions on sexuality, the diaspora discourse and inspiration for me to properly become the scene girl of my dreams. I could freely ask questions about how to navigate having a crush, or ramble as my text posts were personal journals, or see what had been tagged ‘Lana Del Rey’ to see if my main source of inspiration as a 14-year-old needed an updated form of emulation. Yet, individualism aside, there was and arguably still is a deep dark side of the site that remains undiscussed.

Impressionable young teens and young adults alike have a world of vulnerability at their hands.

Impressionable young teens and young adults alike have a world of vulnerability at their hands. Tumblr was a tricky platform to navigate as a child that believes everything is an open book. The ability to access anyone’s inner voice through their personal posts, the hundreds of hashtags related to eating disorders, and the ammo to daydream about unfulfilling and unfair romantic relationships had a long-term effect on what I thought was completely okay to live by. I used the internet to inform my choices, replacing the need for older siblings or authority figures in general who perhaps could have taught me better.

This went on to affect how I saw situations in my later teen years, thinking that the idolisation of boys who barely cared and solely looked cool was the kind of person I’d like to be with. I listened to music that matched my preferred visual aesthetic, transitioning from being a Hannah Montana superfan to a diehard The 1975 stan as soon as I hit the internet. Being forced to grow up and being flooded with context that was curated by adults all at the hand of myself felt like an achievement at the time. Being considered emotionally mature for my age was a 15-year-old’s dream.

Tumblr acted as the middle-man between the outside world and me.

Tumblr acted as the middle-man between the outside world and me. With all the restrictions of a young British-Pakistani girl, I knew little about how the world was truly playing out all these narratives that I thought I had to lust after. The romanticisation of sadness, the normalisation of doing emotionally reckless things and consuming media that supported this left me unprepared for the realities and consequences of getting myself wrapped up in these things (outside of my computer screen). But it wasn’t all bad, I became a poet because of the ways I saw people describe the things that moved them. I understood the power in self-expression. I comprehended what it meant and felt like to be in a community – even if that community was based on Benedict Cumberbatch.

The self-development through this site was so crucial for me that I opened the discussion up to my peers to hear their thoughts.

Name: Neve

Occupation: Photographer

How do you think Tumblr affected your preference for art?

Tumblr definitely plunged me into this Pastel Grunge/Vaporwave hybrid phase that affected the way I approached creating my Instagram feed – all these years later my aesthetic preference is definitely saturated colours and obscure/over-the-top editing.

Name: Ali Smith

Occupation: Puppy Trainer (Founder of Rebarkable.com)

Do you think Tumblr made you romanticise anything? 

Absolutely! I think when Tumblr was young, and it attracted a younger audience, we were all so trusting of each other, and it felt very pure. So, it made me feel like “Yeah! I can be anything!”. Ironically, I lost that for a bit, and then found it again to form my company! 
I think it also made me very idealistic about love too. Impractical perhaps at times maybe!

Name: Sophie

Occupation: Photographer

Do you think Tumblr affected your behaviours?

I used to religiously check my Tumblr feed after school, it was like my secret mood board for my future life. I would wear certain things to match an aesthetic I liked on Tumblr. At school people would make out what I used to wear was really out there and different – which I loved (Gemini). It gave me some kind of confidence that has definitely grown into my style now.

Contribution by Tanya Barlow.

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