We live in an era where social media dominates the greater part of our everyday lives. It's such a common occurrence to post about your life on social media. We pay attention to our followers, the number we have, the interactions our posts get, and so on. With being so invested in social media, we also get very caught up in the "lives" of the people that we are following. We may see an Instagram model, and then we immediately wish to be as pretty as them, or that we have their clothes, or could pull off their hair color. We look at the "perfect" couples that post all of their artsy pictures, and envy them for the love that they have. We set them as this impossible standard for our own relationships, and are dissatisfied when our love life doesn't seem to compare to theirs. We view people that get to travel to beautiful countries, and feel instant jealousy because we might not get to travel the way that they do.
Here's the tea that I'm about to spill for you; the life we see portrayed by that person on social media isn't always the same behind the screen. When you look at that Instagram model, you probably don't realize that she is struggling to support her passion, she has to travel and miss college just to keep her job, we don't read all of the hate messages she receives because people don't like the clothes that she wears, or the industry she represents. That perfect couple that you envy because your relationship will never be as good as theirs, the truth is that they face struggles too. I know, what a concept, their relationship isn't always rainbows and butterflies, they fight, and argue, but we can't tell that from their social media. Those people that get to travel the world, going to beautiful places, and doing all of the things you could only dream of; you may not know that they had to have prescription medication to handle their anxiety just so that they could get on their plane.
On your screen all of the people seem to lead perfect lives. Their social media is tailored to portray all of the positive things that are happening in their lives, but then that leads us to believe that we have to lead perfect lives all of the time. However, this to me raised a very valid question. Why are we so quick to flock to the people who lead these "perfect" lives, but are so quick to judge the people that aren't afraid to show the struggles that they are facing. We have put such a negative stigma around being open about our daily struggles that we as a society feel the pressure to lead perfect lives all the time and that's just not how that works. Life isn't always good, we're human, we face heartbreak, we cry and scream, and have fears. Why is it that when we express, the not pretty part of life, people are so quick to say that we are just asking for attention.
Please remember that there is a real life behind the post on the screen. Be kind, don't just assume because someone is brave enough to admit their life isn't perfect, that they are just begging for attention.
Just remember what we see on the screen isn't always what it seems. I'm so thankful that Riley Dacus brought this to so many people's attention.Riley Dacus
