Instagram, otherwise known as “Insta,” is a social media application that has taken our world by storm, and has allowed us to stay connected to our friends and followers. It is a tool that allows people to portray themselves and their lives to the world. Although it is a fun way of staying connected with friends, Instagram is slowly but surely skewing our perceptions of what the real world looks like.
Last week I was scrolling through Instagram when I came across the most beautiful selfie on my feed. It happened to be an Instagram model. She looked absolutely flawless — her skin was glowing, her blue eyes popping out, and she looked as skinny as can be. I thought to myself — Wow, she’s so beautiful. She got over 1,000 likes, her life must be so amazing. Why cant I be that gorgeous? I wish I was her. I continued to stalk her Instagram photos for about thirty minutes. Every picture was more flawless than the one before. I was so jealous and began to feel bad about myself. Why can’t I be as gorgeous as her? Why don’t I get as many likes as her? Why, why, why?
What I didn’t realize in that moment was that this girl who I was so jealous of is an Instagram model. She is paid to post flawless pictures for the world to see. That is her job. She uses editing tools, cropping, and extremely careful consideration when posting her pictures. She does whatever she can to make her life look amazing. What her Instagram pictures don’t tell us is how long it took to take the photo, and how many different photos were taken to find the one that was Instagram-worthy and would gain the most attention.
In today’s society, I think some people equate their self-worth is determined by how many likes, followers, views, and comments they receive on social media. We seek validation and acceptance from our friends and followers. Many people, especially young women end up putting their self-worth into numbers on social media, specifically Instagram. Girls strive to become that “perfect person” online. They do everything they can to perfect that image, from coming up with the perfectly clever Instagram bio and editing the layout of their page. They build themselves a new image online and an empire around it.
Do I look good enough in this picture? Do I look thin enough? Is this the perfect filter? What is the perfect time to post the picture?
These are all thoughts that go through our minds when posting an Instagram. I too am guilty of wanting to look perfect on Instagram. I carefully choose the pictures I am going to post, and make sure I have the perfect filter before posting it. When we post a picture and don’t receive a sufficient amount of likes, we become extremely insecure about ourselves. We begin to question ourselves and compare ourselves to others on Instagram.
What we all need to remember is that Instagram is an application for editing photos, not an application for making our lives look better than they really are. Instagram should not be determining our self-worth and making us feel good about ourselves. We should be determining our self-worth by what we do with our lives or the character of our person. It is absolute insanity that our self-worth and self-value is determined by how many likes you get on a stupid edited picture. Defining oneself by numbers of followers or likes is not real love and not real worth.
