Poverty Porn: Why Your Pictures Won’t Save the World

We need to talk.

About that photo.

You know the one: the wrinkled grandma sitting on a doorstep, the barefoot kid smiling at your camera, the dusty street with crumbling walls.

All dressed up in a dramatic black and white filter and posted on Instagram with a caption like “Humbled by the simplicity of life here.” [LAUGHS IN DARIJA]

Yeah… that one.

We believe travel should expand your worldview, not shrink other people’s realities into a sad aesthetic for your Instagram feed.

*because we're not these people this is an AI generated picture

What Is Poverty Porn Anyway?

Poverty porn is when tourists - often unintentionally - turn poverty into a photo opportunity. It’s when people use images of hardship, dirt roads, or strangers’ worn-out faces as a backdrop for their own “life-changing adventure” narrative. It’s the visual equivalent of “look how authentic my experience was because I hung out near poor people.”

But here’s the kicker:

Those people are not props.

That street is not a movie set.

And their struggles don’t exist to decorate your feed.

The Drama Filter Won’t Fix It

Look, it’s human to be moved by new places, especially when life looks very different from what you’re used to. And yes, travel should challenge you.

But if the first thing you do is reach for a dramatic filter and frame someone’s struggle as “beautiful simplicity,” you’re totally missing the point.

It’s not romantic to be poor. It’s not charming to lack basic resources. And no: adding sepia tones to your "professional" pictures won’t turn inequality into a work of art.

So What Should You Do Instead?

Good question.

Listen. Ask. Pay. Respect. Connect. Learn.

Seek out experiences that feel authentic to locals - not crafted to please you. Listen when they their stories on their own terms. Experiences that make you uncomfortable in the right way - the kind that cracks open your worldview, not your wallet.

That’s what we do here at The Better Place.

We work with locals who don’t rely on tourism for survival, meaning they don’t have to sugarcoat the truth for you. They're hand-picked highly educated people who are very proud of their roots and don't call your home "first world". They’ll show you their reality, the good and the hard parts - which might include your presence as factor - and let you in on the kind of stories you won’t find on a postcard.

Final Take

We’re not here to shame anyone - we get it, most of us were tourists like that once somewhere.

But the world’s too complex, too beautiful, and too unfair to flatten into an Instagramable sob story.

If you really want to make your travels meaningful, put down the drama filter.

And pick up a real conversation - even if it costs your comfort.