"Look everybody, I am about to eat! You need to see this!" Grabbing a quick snap of dinner or an ornately-patterned latte has become as much a staple for hundreds of millions of people as the food being consumed.
And while scrolling through seemingly-endless food photos on social media feeds is not to everyone’s taste, it could be good for you if it promotes healthy eating, according to a study from Curtin University in Australia.
People who photographed what they ate were better able to accurately recall their "nutritional intake" than others who just used their memories, Curtin researchers found, in tests taking in breakfast, lunch and dinner over 24 hours.
At the same time, according to team, "the novelty of the controlled feeding environment" could have led to participants being "more aware of the foods they consumed" and in turn being more likely to "report more accurately" than usual.
And - perhaps overlooking those who salivate upon seeing a drunk-post photo of a greasy bacon burger or calorie-laden kebab - the results suggest that getting "an accurate picture" of what people eat can in turn improve diets, according to the researchers.
"It makes it a lot simpler for people to track what they consume when they only have to take photos for the day," said Deborah Kerr, a professor at Curtin and co-creator of the Food Record App, which study participants used to photograph their meals.
"Accurate, reliable data about what the population is eating is key to supporting people to optimise their health," said Clare Whitton, who co-authored a paper on the findings, which was published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.