Everyone wants to be the cool kid on campus, the one person everyone knows and loves, the extrovert. We all see these artificial attributions of how so called “popular” individuals operate via social media and events, but the dark secret behind that lifestyle is that usually being that popular makes you the loneliest.
One would not fathom that the individual who has all the friends and lovers would be the loneliest, but that is where the misconception is. Society today is so focused on quantity, whether it be monetary, “friends” or likes on Instagram, we forget that quality will always trump quantity. Unfortunately, we have reach a slot in our history where most users of social media do not even know their followers, let alone who their real friends are. We are all guilty of this issue and I challenge you to go on your social outlets and count the individuals you have not even met before. This disconnect from physical social interaction has driven our society deeper into an abyss of depression and loneliness. Sadly enough, many post activities on social media to keep up with the status quo, in an attempt produce a facade that all is well in their little world. That is where the problem lies with the popular and being the loneliest.
Something most of us have is a tight inner circle of friends we consider family. These friends are the ones who would have your back when everyone else has turned their backs to you. Something that many people lack in this era are faithful friends, unfortunately, we have grown up in a generation of fake and degenerate children who try to compensate their lack of a personality with a lavish partying lifestyle. These leeches on society will jump on a bandwagon at first sight and be the first to strike someone down to boost their self esteem. While some “popular” people belong to a such group, many are just outgoing individuals who genuinely care about others and unfortunately many take advantage of this quality.
What many fail to understand is that while you might have this longing to be friends with everyone and live the cliche college movie lifestyle, we have to come to realize that the lifestyle is toxic. While they might seem to have mass amounts of approval and friendships, most of the times that is far from the truth. This notion that more is better is untrue, many who live this lifestyle will have a rude awaking sooner or later when they need the support of their “friends” the most whether in a time of tragedy or misjudgment.
“You’ll never know who your true friends are until you truly need them.” Quotes like this are a perfect an example on why the popular are most likely the loneliest. This is due to the fact that most socialites have differing friend group for different social occasions, in which neither of the groups fully know the individual. This disconnect is dangerous because our friends are our support system and many of us can tell if our friend is upset, sad or sick and we try our hardest to help each other through tough times.
The issue with “friends” many popular people acquire is that many of these so called “friends” leech, whether financially or socially and could care less about the individual’s physical or emotional well-being. Contrary many of these “friends” will take the first swing to knock you down and gossip behind your back to somehow grow their personality for their own purposes. With the sheer amount of “friends” popular individuals have it is almost impossible for them to keep up with all of them and this disconnect has them scrambling looking for an outlet in times of crisis. Their circle of trust is almost nonexistent with so called friends gossiping and many failing to understand what trust and commitment are, with them smiling to your face, but then slander behind your back.. Something society presently has to understand that more of something does not always mean better, the quality of friendships will always mean more to an individual in the short and long term.
Proverbs 26:23-25: Smooth words may hide a wicked heart, just as a pretty glaze covers a clay pot.
People may cover their hatred with pleasant words, but they’re deceiving you. They pretend to be kind, but don’t believe them. Their hearts are full of many evils.
