#nofilter is slowly becoming extinct in the social media world. This is an issue that affects everyone and will change the world as we know it.

While this may seem super dramatic, and it honestly is a little, social media and its effects on people seriously is no joke.

Scrolling through Facebook, Instagram, or Snapchat, I see hundreds of pictures of people, but most of them aren’t real. People edit and Photoshop their pictures to make their teeth whiter, face slimmer, or the lighting better. The result is an image that is completely unnatural and unattainable. There is an overwhelming focus to have a “good flow” on Instagram and to portray your best self on Facebook. But how come people don’t portray their real selves?

“Likes” have a way of making people feel appreciated and act almost as a reward for looking good. However, people don’t give likes out in real life and the images people post are just what they want the public to see them as. Social media has become a collage of different pieces of people’s lives that are the most glamorous and fun.

The issue with social media is that it reinforces the need for people to look, act, and be a certain way, and shames the people who don’t fit in with that bubble. People compare themselves to others and wonder why they can’t look that way or wish that their life was like those on Facebook.

When I first moved into school, my newsfeed was bombarded with images of my friends all over the country seemingly having the best time in college. I felt alone when I saw these. The truth was, I wasn’t having the easiest time transitioning into college life. I felt out of my comfort zone and did not feel like Michigan was home yet. I couldn’t understand what I was doing wrong and what my friends were doing right.

It took me a long time to realize that social media lies. The pictures my friends were posting were just a cover-up for what I was feeling as well. No one is going to post a picture where they aren’t smiling, or a Snapchat story of them not having fun, yet that was the reality of the situation.

The next time you are scrolling on your newsfeeds and admire someone’s life, remember that you are looking at an edited and carefully selected photo, not reality. You never know what is going on behind someone’s Instagram.