Stop! Close that Instagram app, put your phone down and step away from your dinner! We’ve become obsessed with photographing every meal, but a new study says that food photos on Instagram ruin the enjoyment of food for everyone at the table. Two researchers at Brigham Young University had 232 people look at and rate pictures of food. Half of them looked at desserts, while the other half looked at salty snacks like potato chips and pretzels. After they finished rating the pictures, both groups were given salty foods to eat and asked to rate how good they tasted. The group that had just looked at pictures of salty foods enjoyed their snack far less than the other group. Why did this happen? One of the researchers said that those people became tired of the taste without even eating the food, calling it ‘sensory boredom.’ Next time you post a picture of what you’re about to eat, remember that you’re ruining that food for all of your friends. Put down the phone, and just dig in instead!
About Shelly Palmer
Shelly Palmer is the Professor of Advanced Media in Residence at Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications and CEO of The Palmer Group, a consulting practice that helps Fortune 500 companies with AI strategy, implementation and governance, as well as technology, media and marketing. Named one of LinkedIn’s Top Voices in Technology, he is a bestselling author, covers tech and business for Fox 5’s Good Day New York, is a regular commentator on CNN, and writes the popular daily business blog Think About This. Follow @shellypalmer or visit shellypalmer.com.