Aaron Paul’s Instagram is creepy (and other surprising social media presences)

Before yesterday, I had a fairly positive view of Breaking Bad star Aaron Paul. Having only watched the pilot episode, I don’t have much of an opinion on his acting, but I know a little about him from my days on Tumblr and various other social media platforms.

For instance, I know that he was once on US game show The Price is Right, where he emphatically took to the stage to scream his excitement about losing.

But my experience on Tumblr and YouTube never accounted for the disappointment I’d receive upon learning of Aaron Paul’s Instagram.

At first glance, Paul has your standard Insta: screenshots of his adorable niece, videos of him and costars, standard political messages, and pictures of his wife.

But beneath his pictures of the lovely Lauren Paul are captions so inherently creepy they have the ability to change your opinion of the man entirely.

Take this image of Lauren eating, for example.

Pretty bird providing food for her self kills me in the best way every time. I love you so much my little wife.

A post shared by Aaron Paul (@glassofwhiskey) on Jun 23, 2013 at 2:58pm PDT

Aaron Paul is knocked over by his wife’s ability to feed herself. Not only that, every time she does it “kills [him] in the best way ever time”.

Can you imagine living with someone who can barely keep themselves together whenever you eat? Can you imagine sitting down with a grilled cheese sandwich after a long day at work only to find your significant other staring at you from across the room with wonder in his eyes? Because you have the ability to eat?

And maybe I could overlook this one creepy post if Aaron Paul wasn’t consistently patronising and diminutive in the way he speaks about his wife.

In one post he calls her “this pretty little bird sticking her cute little tongue out looking sexier than ever!!!” Keep scrolling and she is a “cute little bun,” a “pretty bird drinking tea,” a “girl in the subway“.

Now I’m not one to judge other people’s relationships (especially when I don’t know them from a bar of soap), but I am one to judge celebrities’ social media presences and this one is unsettling — and I can’t help but let it taint my idea of Aaron Paul the Actor.

Paul consistently refers to his wife as if she is a child, like she is small and can barely look after herself without him. The feminist in me can’t get behind that, no matter how hard I try to assure myself that she likely enjoys their relationship, creepiness included.

But Paul’s Instagram isn’t the only one that has changed my thoughts on a celebrity.

Do you remember when Caitlyn Jenner had just come out, and the LGBT+ community were excited to have someone so well-known representing their community? Well, you probably know now that that didn’t work out.

Caitlyn Jenner stuck by her socially conservative views after her transition — including her opposition to same-sex marriage — and she touted it on social media, even when she realised her support for US President Donald Trump wasn’t in trans people’s best interests.

I have a message for the trans kids of America. You are winning. I know it doesn’t feel that way today or every day, but you _ are _ winning. You are going to keep on winning so much you’re going to get sick of winning. Very soon, we’ll win full freedom nationwide, and it’s going to happen with bipartisan support. For all our friends out there, If you want to be part of this winning side, you can help by checking out the National Center for Trans Equality and letting Washington hear how you feel loud and clear. (Link in bio!) Now…I also have a message for the bullies. You suck. You’re losers and you’re going to keep on losing. Because you’re weak, you pick on kids or you pick on women or anyone you think is vulnerable. Apparently even becoming the Attorney General isn’t enough to cure some of you of your insecurity. As proof that you can’t stop our progress, the Supreme Court will soon hear an important Title Nine case thanks to the courage of a brave young man named Gavin Grimm. See you in court!

A post shared by Caitlyn Jenner (@caitlynjenner) on Feb 23, 2017 at 5:17pm PST

But social media doesn’t only have the ability to disappoint: sometimes it can happily change your mind.

Take for instance Cole Sprouse’s @camera_duels Instagram account. Sprouse, who found fame with his twin as the stars of Disney’s The Suite Life of Zack and Cody, recently made an acting comeback as Jughead Jones on The CW’s Riverdale.

Many online didn’t have very high opinions of the actor, especially after his self-proclaimed “social experiment” in which he pretended he liked Tumblr to see how others would react to him.

But Sprouse stuck to his guns online and found a way to reel people back in — namely his photographing of all the strangers who try to sneak a pic of him.

#cameraduels #thaicuisine #padtiminglady #bigguns In the game of camera dueling, the heavier and more expensive the weapon, the slower and more obvious the draw. I heard and saw this woman ages before she was ready to take the shot, not to mention, she forgot to turn the flash off (I have another photo in which I caught the flash). Forgetting to remove the flash is baby’s first mistake, comparable only to an extremely loud shutter. Always the signs of a novice, a large camera has all these aforementioned problems +, and is never the good way to go. Can’t I eat my pad Thai in peace? 🙂

A post shared by Cole Sprouse (@camera_duels) on Nov 8, 2012 at 4:36pm PST

Captioning all the images as if narrating a serious battle, Sprouse’s candid treatment of fame won over the hearts of many an indifferent Instagram user.

Social media may seem less important than the work actors and the like put out, but when you release more social content than you do actual work (which is inevitable), your Instagram becomes how people define you.

And while you may produce Emmy-winning performances in popular TV shows, viewers may never get the image of you chewing your wife’s food for her out of their mind, because you apparently don’t think she can eat by herself.

Some things deserve to stay on your private Insta. We’re all better off not knowing.