Let me begin by saying that social media is not actually killing me. I am simply being dramatic. However, social media is in fact killing parts of me and my life. I am 20-years-old, so I guess you could consider me a part of the social generation, but I have a certain love/hate relationship with it. It is a place where we are expected to present the best versions of ourselves, but we edit and filter it all so people will like it, as if somehow likes on the interenet translate into your real life. We feel like we have to share everything we do with everyone, there is no privacy anymore for a person to just be a person without documentation.

An algorithm makes us two-dimensional because it chooses what we see when we do venture out of our bubble. It doesn't consider that I might be interested in seeing things about makeup, sports, Game of Thrones, the feminist movement, interesting recipes, daily Bible verses and devotionals, books and music all at once. However, it is an amazing place where regular people can become creators and they can inspire people in ways that have never been possible before. It is a catch 22 and it all comes down to authenticity.

So, therein lies the rub.

I love the fact that it turns ordinary people into creators. However, I hate that most of these creators put things out there that aren't authentic. What I mean by authentic is that it doesn't portray real life. Most Instagram, Twitter and Facebook posts are only about the joys of life or they present issues and let their users rant for no purpose. There are a few gems that are inspiring or enlightening in some way, but a lot of times we forget that there is an outside world and that it is so great because it is a mix of greatly terrible things and terribly great things.

Here's an example to make things more relatable. My boyfriend and I recently went on a trip to New York. It was amazing, we were total tourists the entire time and I would love to go back and experience the more local scene. However, my boyfriend was consumed with playing Pokémon Go and Snapchatting our experience. I don't mind him sharing our trip, but I felt like he was always slightly disconnected from the things we were doing because he was focusing on "doing it for the snap" as he would say. The Pokémon Go thing I don't get at all but he was so happy because apparently New York is crawling with them.

I say all this to point out that instead of tying significance to what we were doing or making memories he was concerned with the many other people on the other side of the screen and what they thought of our trip. We went to a Comedy Club one night where phones were prohibited, no one experienced that except us and the people in the room. My boyfriend did not catch them all for 2 hours and it was easily the best part of the vacation.

So why is it a problem? Well, I think that there's a misconception that likes and views are somehow tied to our actual likability in the real world. That is the issue. Instead of being focused on who we are living life with at that very moment in time, we are trying to think "what would all of those people who follow me like and want to see?" or something along the lines of that. The worst part is that it is subconscious. We don't even realize we are doing it. This is why I feel so unattached to social media. I do not feel authentic when I post things sometimes myself because I am worried about what kind of response I will get and that sucks.

I just feel like there is an uattainable standard because, and this may come as a shock to some people, but we are human. We are weird, quirky, social animals who can think for ourselves. We shouldn't have to follow the unwritten rules of perfection and likability for our own personal ventures. Save that for the business and advertising people. If you want to post a picture of yourself without makeup, bedhead and being lazy because that is the most real you, then you should. Who cares if it gets 5 likes? Who cares if they are only likes from family members? It's authentically you and lets face it, we aren't always likable.

In the spirit of being authentic and real I will tell you something. I actually was inspired to write this because I watched Ghostbusters recently and decided that breaking the norm and making a full female comedienne cast, with a ditsy male secretary was genius. So why couldn't I write about something that I thought was breaking the mold? Well, I just did and I feel pretty great right now.

You can find me posting the most "me" pictures next summer when I attend my first Comic Con as Daenerys Targaryen, but until then ill be taking baby steps and averaging 12 likes on a picture and that is okay with me.