As humans, especially adolescents, we crave attention.
We crave to be told we’re good enough, smart enough or pretty enough. Social media only encourages our thirst. It seems the highest compliment we can give to each other is to comment under pictures with a compliment and heart-eyed emojis.
Social media has set an unrealistic bar of “favorites,” “followers,” “likes” and “requests” that have made some question their self-importance.
We can deny it. We can say that it doesn't affect us. However, it does more than we think. A large study in Italy conducted alongside the country's National Institute of Statistics found that too much time spent of social media correlates negatively with wellbeing. Other studies have shown that social media use has a direct correlation with negative self-image.
I can find myself in a different mood after being on social media. This girl is prettier, this person got my dream internship, this couple is so darn cute... it can go on for hours. We begin to compare ourselves to the surface of what someone else is displaying on social media. We know social media is fake... so why do we let it bother us?
Even if you deny it with your mouth, your actions speak otherwise. Think about it: Do you post things that you know people will like? Do you get upset when you don’t get enough likes on a post or when people don’t compliment you? Don't let social media rule you. Your confidence needs to come from within you, not based on texts or emojis typed on a computer screen.
Think about it: If you were to never get another like or comment on a picture... would that bother you?
Instagram and Facebook have become a caliber by which some have begun to measure their self-worth. It has to stop. It becomes a problem when you base your self-worth on “followers” and “likes." We need to learn how to be 100 percent OK and confident with ourselves.
So consider this a reminder.
200 likes doesn’t make you prettier or better than someone with 20. Social media has forced us to think that a lack of friends or other people’s presence on social media means that we are lonely or that no one cares about us. Just because someone has more likes/favorites/followers doesn’t mean you are alone or that your self-worth is any less.
You are not your likes, your followers or anything else of that matter. I promise, your life isn't any less cool because it isn't filled with continuous Instagram-worthy pictures. You are valued. You are loved. You are important.
