Social media can be one of those things that are constantly on our mind. It features some of the most widely used platforms that help us navigate our day to day lives. We learn so much about the world through social media. It helps us to see the world in ways we otherwise wouldn't.

However, social media still has its downsides. Not everyone enjoys using it and not everyone can feel 100% safe either. Social media can be a fun place to be on, but it can also be a dark and gloomy place. For some of us, we see some of our worst fears coming to life on social media: FOMO. We all have some fear of missing out, whether that's in school or in our dorms. We want to feel as if we belong, but that's not always the case.

I am one of those people who started using social media very late. I was a junior in high school when I first used Instagram. Instagram was one of those places where I can find a community with people that are like-minded and share the same interests as me. Whenever I opened Instagram, there was always so much to see. The posts always featured something exciting and also something to look forward to. Little did I know that the posts would also be the cause of my day to day FOMO (Fear of Missing Out). As exciting and anticipated the Instagram posts may have been, it also seized a deep fear of not being able to "belong" with the rest of the people on Instagram. A sort of pressure that made me feel as if I had to "conform" to the standards of how other people spent their day to day lives

Instagram can be my best friend, but also my worst enemy. At times, I feel the happiest when I am scrolling through the many posts that come up on my feed. I feel as if I am part of another world -a digital universe.

Instagram has taught me a lot of what it means to be a person in this time period where technology is an everyday part of our lives. It has taught me that sometimes, we can't always be the best version of ourselves. No matter the number of likes or the number of followers we may have, there will always come an inevitable time where we feel as if we don't belong in this modern world. We give our all, but we don't always get everything in return. We put our best foot forward, but we also want to take a step back.

I want to be able to use all the things Instagram has taught me about being a person and use it to my advantage to live in the "real world," not the digital one we often find ourselves in. The digital world is a part of most of our lives. It is the place we often share some of the most positive moments of our lives. But this also causes us to forget the essence of who we are in our personal and social lives. And maybe that is something I don't want anymore.