Initially, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram were used with the intent of facilitating communication and keeping in touch with old friends. But now, more than ever, they have become a platform to portray your life in an ideal way, even if that may be far from the truth. We all do it. We post selfies to show others we look good, when in reality we spend 90 percent of our time in sweatpants and with no makeup on. We post pictures when we are out with those new people we just met and (kind of) like so that we look like the social butterfly that we think we need to be. While it is perfectly understandable and healthy to do these things on occasion, it is not healthy to base one’s entire existence and self-worth out of approval from others. Social media has become a competition now. How can you show everyone that you’re having a better time than they are and that you are happier than them?
Since starting college, I have noticed the absurd amount of people that have begun to post more on social media. Some post so frequently that it becomes annoying (we all know some of those). People tweeting about how much they love college, how their roommate is their new best friend, and how they go out every weekend. From this, one could only possibly draw the conclusion that they are loving every aspect of their new life. But after talking to several of them, they have confessed that they are struggling, and miss the way things used to be. Their admitted reason for these fraudulent posts is simple: they couldn’t bear to let others think that they weren’t having as good of a time as everyone else supposedly is. It’s a never-ending chain of lying to others to impress those who are also lying. Who benefits from living a life like this?
Recently, an Instagram model by the name of Essena O’Neill decided to expose herself to her hundreds of thousands of followers. She deleted almost of all her photos, and the ones she did leave behind had modified captions, saying what the pictures did not. In one she revealed that she had not eaten all day before taking a bikini selfie, and in another she stated that despite receiving thousands of compliments everyday and having a seemingly perfect life, it was all a facade, and she was not content with her life.
When I heard about this, I was not entirely surprised. Nobody’s life can possibly be as perfect as it seems on social media. And yet, we all torture ourselves by watching the people we think have perfect lives, and inevitably comparing theirs to our own. In doing so, we come to the conclusion that our lives will never be as good as that girl who travel to Fiji for free and met Zac Efron. And while that may not happen for everyone, these people may be struggling on other parts of their lives. A picture, a tweet, or a Facebook album does not show us the entire story. We do not broadcast our worst moments, and neither do those with the “perfect life.”
What we don’t realize is that we truly don’t know what life someone is living behind the picture. While they may be just as happy as they seem, the more likely scenario is that a lot of what is put out on social media is to impress others. How are we supposed to fondly remember “the best years of our lives” when everything we do is based on what we think is expected from us? How are we supposed to get to know ourselves when we are so busy trying to be an idealistic version of who we are “supposed” to be?
Stop caring about what other people think of your Instagram posts. Stop caring about how many likes, comments, or retweets you get. Stop caring about what impressions you leave upon people. A perfect life does not exist and thinking such a thing exists will only make you see the negatives of yours.
