Let's be honest. If you know me personally then you know, I am pretty obsessed with Instagram. It all started my freshmen year of college when I figured that the best way to make myself "known" amongst a student body of 35,000 people was to build my presence on social media. While there were of course clubs and organizations for me to join, I wanted to work towards creating my own personal brand. Two years later, I have made numerous connections with companies thanks to social media. As a fashion merchandising major, and someone who has dreamt of working in the industry for seven years, I knew that social media would come to play a crucial role in making this dream a reality. Instagram has come to be one, if not the, most influential apps of our digitally-driven generation. Creating and maintaining a presence on social media has its highs and lows, but perhaps the biggest low is having over a thousand people feel as if they "know" you from just one post.

There are a lot of things that people don't know about me, a lot of things that people will never know about me, but this hasn't stopped people from coming to their own conclusions about who I am. When it comes to judging people, I'm guilty too. It's so easy for us to think that we know someone, especially when they choose to publicly display their lives on social media. When life got hard for me, it was so easy for me to portray the "perfect" life I wanted on Instagram when my reality was far from it. Looking back on things now, I wish I had chosen to be more honest with myself.

Maybe it's time we start to think a little bit more about the person behind the picture.