With over 400 million users, Instagram is one of the world's most used social media apps. Instagram is an application used to share photos to many different people and has become a very essential part of today's society. It has become a very beneficial way to raise global awareness to numerous world issues, however, with many benefits, there are also many disadvantages to Instagram. This world renowned app has been the war zone for cyber bullying. With all the good and the bad, I have accumulated a list of life lessons that I learned from Instagram.
When following many different people on Instagram, it is easy to become caught up on what others are doing and wearing. It soon becomes even easier to lose yourself. You began wishing you were someone else, and this develops into a low self esteem problem manifested by the constant changes of society's beauty standards portrayed on Instagram.
Lesson one is: Understand that things always look better from the outside. You look at others and hold them to great esteem, but in all actuality, that person may be fighting their own demons. So learn to not compare yourself to others because you are comparing yourself to a picture or video of what "seems to be perfect," rather than what it actually is.
Instagram is a place where a lot of people feel free to express themselves, but soon some realize that while expressing themselves, they are faced with a lot of unkind words or hatred that some feel the need to share.
So, lesson two is: Spread love, not hate. The world is filled with enough hatred, so much so that it seems to fall into people's lives without even trying. What we can do to fix this problem is to spread love, not hate. Even when hate is aimed directly at us, respond with love. There is no reason that hate should be retaliated with more hate. Also, when faced with that hate, learn to block people. Instagram comes equipped with a block button that keeps you from seeing whatever that hateful person is saying. Learn to block the people that bring hatred into your life, digitally and in reality.
Once you’ve learned to stop comparing yourself to others, and to block the haters, now you must learn to be free.
Therefore, the final lesson is to express yourself any way you see fit. Post as many pictures as you want, try that new filter you like, post a video of you dancing, because it is what YOU like, and in the end, that is all that matters. If someone doesn’t like what you post, there is an unfollow button that is available 24/7. You should never be afraid to be who you are.
These lessons are not limited to just Instagram. Living in a world surrounded by social media, we must learn to maneuver ourselves to make sure we stay happy at all times, because being constantly connected to people can cause you to constantly feel the need to be someone other than yourself. So challenge yourself to push through social norms and become that one person that is living life to the fullest, regardless of your circumstance.
