Social media is a powerful tool that can be used by virtually anyone. Thanks to different types of social media, there is a way to have a platform to have your voice, ideas, or thoughts heard. While there are many great ways for social media to be used, there are several downsides to it.
One hot topic that has been a big subject in the past and currently, is that social media can sometimes be an illusion. By this, I mean that what you see someone post on Instagram for example, may not be a reality. Instagram and Snapchat have been linked to giving people unrealistic expectations of how things or people should be.
There is a trend for Instagram users that have been active and it is that you should have some type of "feed." This feed is usually some kind of aesthetic that is used to make your profile more captivating to viewers. In order to have the perfect feed, users tend to spend a lot of time determining what filter to use and to make sure it matches the color of the rest of the pictures that have been uploaded. While there is no fault to want to have a "uniformed" looking profile, it should never reach the point to where you stress out over it or become upset that you can't figure out what to post!
Now, back to the unrealistic expectations. For the most part, of course, everyone wants to capture their "best side" when posting to social media. When scrolling through pictures, you have to remember that the person in the picture probably took several shots of the same pose to find the "perfect one." You shouldn't find yourself comparing yourself to someone's perfect picture and tear yourself down because you don't look the way they do. If I'm being honest, sometimes I find myself doing the same thing, then I come to my senses that most of all pictures posted are posed! Sometimes even the ones that are labeled "candid" aren't even really candid.
Also, not everyone posts the "hard" times they may be doing through. To a viewer, it may seem like the person has everything going right in their life and that they're having the time of their life. Don't fall into this illusion! Of course, not everyone is going to post about the class they failed or that they're having a rough breakup. No one really knows what's going on behind the scenes of a picture. So, you shouldn't think that your life is not great because of theirs.
Now don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to bash on anyone's social media, I love social media as much as the person behind me does. All I am saying is that you should never feel so consumed by trying to take the perfect Insta-pic! Don't beat yourself up for not looking like the other people on your screen, because some people don't even look like themselves when they post their pictures.
So remember, "Always be a first-rate version of yourself, instead of a second-rate version of somebody else." - Judy Garland