Is Social Media Ruining Travel? How Expectations Influence Happiness

Is social media ruining travel? We explore whether overexposure to travel destinations is setting us up for disappointment, ensuring our travel expectations cannot be met.

In this episode of Tripology Podcast, we unpack how social media platforms such as Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, and even travel blogs, impact how we experience travel —and how it might be making us less happy on the road.

We discuss the psychology behind the Instagram vs Reality meme and ask: is travel content killing spontaneity?

Hostel Common Room returns with a fantastic email from a listener, one which will resonate with many: does overplanning dull the experience?

Stay tuned for Tales of a Trip, as we hear a story from a listener who stayed with a Monastic community, only to discover she would be cooking mash potato for 500 people in one of France's largest commercial kitchens!

The topics we cover in this episode include:

- "The Golden Age of travel": Pre-2020 vs Backpacking in 2025

- How hostels & backpackers have changed

- The rise of the Digital Nomad and how digital nomads have impacted hostel culture

- Backpacker diets & hostel kitchens

- How expectations govern happiness, sharing some of our biggest backpacking let-downs.

We'd love to hear from you! Submit your own travel story to: ⁠https://tripologypodcast.com/talesofatrip⁠

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