History Defined: Important Photos That Shed A New Light On Our Past

While Instagram may not be the first place many people go for a history lesson, it’s becoming a popular one. History Defined has amassed 130k followers since its first post in September 2021. It’s probably safe to assume that most users follow the page just for fun, but accounts like this are a great way to show that Instagram can also be used as an educational tool to get students more excited about learning.

We live in a digital age, and we’re just not as likely to pick up a magazine or a book as we are to hop onto the internet. While magazines like National Geographic were once a great way for readers to pick up interesting facts, there are now other more effective platforms. Nat Geo has adapted to our tech-based world and now runs an Instagram account with over 220 million followers. Clearly, there is a demand on social media for learning interesting facts, so History Defined has come along at the perfect time.   

One professor, Dr. Michael W. Kirst of Stanford University, even recommends utilizing Instagram in the classroom. On his blog The College Puzzle, Dr. Kirst writes that because Instagram is one of the most popular social media sites for young people, with 72% of teens using it, it makes sense to try to use it for educational purposes as well. Students are already spending time scrolling through the app, so they might as well learn something new while they’re at it.

Dr. Kirst mentions that Instagram also helps develop creativity, as users are always trying to think of new ideas for posts. Students also prefer unique methods of studying, including assignments that can be evaluated through Instagram or attending events that students can share about via Instagram. They’ll certainly find posting on social media more interesting than simply writing and submitting an essay. If you’re looking for more educational accounts to follow, NASA Goddard, The Smithsonian, The American Museum of Natural History and The British Library all run active Instagram pages as well.  

Maybe you’re not so interested in learning about history, and you need to be convinced as to why it might be a good idea to follow History Defined. Well, according to the Department of History at the University of Wisconsin, “Studying history helps us understand and grapple with complex questions and dilemmas by examining how the past has shaped (and continues to shape) global, national, and local relationships between societies and people.” No, you don’t need to go and get a degree in history. But wouldn’t it be nice to have a greater perspective on our world by knowing more about the past?

The past teaches us about the present as well. We can analyze issues that occurred in the past, and use our understanding of those events to solve current and future problems. For example, the University of Wisconsin’s website notes that, “A course on the history of public health might emphasize how environmental pollution disproportionately affects less affluent communities – a major factor in the Flint water crisis. Understanding immigration patterns may provide crucial background for addressing ongoing racial or cultural tensions.” History can also help us build empathy through studying the lives and struggles of others. It’s easy to live in a bubble, but when we step outside of our own experiences and learn about others, we value and appreciate their lives and cultures more.

History can also teach us more about ourselves. When we learn about our ancestors, we have a greater understanding of our own lives. For example, knowing where our ancestors lived and what major events they lived through helps us piece together how we got here. On that same note, the University of Wisconsin’s site compares “doing history” to “completing a puzzle or solving a mystery”. “Imagine asking a question about the past, assembling a set of clues through documents, artifacts, or other sources, and then piecing those clues together to tell a story that answers your question and tells you something unexpected about a different time and place. That’s doing history.”  

While history may be deemed a boring subject by many students in their school days, it’s understandable that people are eating up these fun facts and stories on Instagram. We love true stories (just look at how popular documentaries have become in recent years), and our brains get excited about learning new information, even if we don’t realize it. In the case of the History Defined Instagram account, followers are in luck if they want to recall what they’ve read. 65% of people consider themselves visual learners, so having interesting images and videos associated with the information shared on Instagram makes us more likely to remember what we’ve read.    

There’s a valid reason so many people prefer visual learning. According to Dr. Lynell Burmark, education consultant and author of the book Visual Literacy: Learn to See, See to Learn, “Unless our words, concepts, ideas are hooked onto an image, they will go in one ear, sail through the brain, and go out the other ear. Words are processed by our short-term memory where we can only retain about seven bits of information (plus or minus 2). Images, on the other hand, go directly into long-term memory where they are indelibly etched.”