While there is plenty to criticise about social media, from harvesting our private data to being linked to rising rates of depression and anxiety to doing nothing about harassment, little is said about the positives of social media. Friends and family find it easy to keep in contact and share what’s going on in their lives, people being able to connect with people in their local areas and beyond about shared interests to educational opportunities.
Today I’m going to focus on one of the more light-hearted and less intentional uses of social media, the sharing of animal pictures. Now this has been going on long before social media took off but in recent years it has largely migrated to social media. Our habit of sharing animal pictures, especially our pets is not a completely new concept. Historically we’ve seen that in rock art and cave paintings what we have found have mostly been of animals. Cats appear an awful lot in Ancient Egyptian art. Art and portraits from the medieval period and beyond prominently feature animals.
So it’s not all together surprising that given the chance to share images of our pets on the web we did, even if that’s not what the creators had in mind. We haven’t just shared photos though; we’ve built communities and created animal celebrities. While to naysayers this may seem ridiculous there are useful aspects to this. Obviously advice on pet ownership and care has been one of the useful aspects; however I am going to focus on a less usual aspect.
I’ve suffered from depression and anxiety for a number of years and following various pets on social media I believe has had a positive impact on my mental health. Instagram has been attacked for being poor for mental health, but in my experience as I follow almost solely animals (compared to many people who follow friends or celebrities), I have found Instagram a great app to use during low points. The many animals I follow bring a smile to my face and are a great tool to use as distraction during periods of high levels of anxiety or feeling down. It has proved to be much more useful than meditation or breathing exercises.
So what’s the relevance to LIS? Other than the fact we way may be introducing or helping patrons with social media, libraries have increasingly become places where those with mental health issues are being referred to. Some may have noticed that many public libraries now have books on prescription, which require a prescription from a GP to take out to advise on therapy and the like. So why not offer more alternatives?
So without further ado, here’s just a few of my favourites…
There’s a chance you’ve already seen Doug before – he’s the most followed Pug on the internet and has his own Wikipedia page. He’s been photographed with an insane amount of celebs, appeared in chart topping music videos, countless articles and has so much merchandise it’s crazy. This seems crazy considering he is just a dog but not only is he ridiculously cute, props to his owner who now earns her living from him for putting together hilarious and realistic media about him. Someone in my house will always ask ‘Have you seen Doug today?’ every single day, because he’s that good.
Alfie is an adorable therapy pug who over the few months following the Manchester terror attack has been visiting the children who were injured, alongside his usual therapy dog duties. He also recently did the National Three Peaks Challenge to raise money for the eating disorder charity Beat, and ended up on BBC news after one of his party had issues on the way down. Alfie always makes you grateful for the positives in your life.
And he has his own pet kitten called Cheese.
Samson is a Goldendoodle who frankly is living a better life than you. When he’s not travelling and staying in fancy hotels, he’s enjoying spa days, nice food and wine (well posing with it!). He looks remarkably like a teddy bear, which is even more apparent when photos of him snuggling with a teddy are posted.
The Dogist is a photo-documentary series by New Yorker Elias Weiss Friedman, who now makes a career out of photographing dogs. He employs a series of techniques including tennis balls and treats to take candid photos of dogs at their level. The photographs themselves are stunning but paired with the subject’s name, age, breed and a fact about them from the human accompanying them. The Dogist is ideal for people who love a range of dogs as most breeds are photographed at some point.
Azuki is an adorable pygmy hedgehog from Japan who loves apples and massages. His owners have created a range of amazing miniature items including a house for Azuki to live in. Sometimes he’s joined by his girlfriend Uni.
This expressive Japanese pair of Golden Retriever siblings are amazing posers. You may have already seen one of the videos posted by their human, of Aarun playing with a stuffed toy Golden Retriever remarkably like a child does, as this has done the rounds on the internet several times. Another highlight is neon pink raincoats.
Hank is an adorable miniature potbelly pig from New Orleans who his owner has introduced to the world proudly as ‘my best friend Hank’. Hank is remarkably expressive for a pig and is so cute that if you eat pork he’ll make you feel terrible. He loves eating, dressing up and meeting new people in his stroller. For a piggy that’s only one years old he’s already well-travelled.
Sadly Sage passed in 2013 but Harlow, a Weimaraner, now has two new best friends’, miniature Dachshunds Indiana and Reese. With their human-like expressions and bundles of love for each other these three are always a highlight.
Have you got any favourite animals or animal sites you like to follow? Please share in the comments as I’m always looking for more!
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