Starting off as an efficient way to communicate with loved ones or long-lost friends, I'm afraid that social media has transformed into a catalyst for the decrease in our total life satisfaction.
Social media became a prevalent way of communication around the time that I was turning 10 years old. The concept of having a "smart-phone" was just becoming mainstream and the idea that you could actually use the internet on such a small device was undiscovered to most.
Although I do remember a time without them, most of my life has involved the use of one of these platforms at one moment or another. Around the age of 15, I created my first profile on Instagram; and from there, my online presence continued to spread through to the endless amounts of media platforms that exist today. My adolescence and early adult life immediately became a comparison game against my acquaintances and/or complete strangers that I haven't, nor will ever meet in my lifetime; with the end goal being to see who could prove that they have the "best" life.
At such a vulnerable age, I was unknowingly being targeted by millions of advertisements and suggestions within these applications, informing me how to live a better life. Just do some more of "this" and a dash of "that", then you will finally be happy, they say. However, the cycle never really stops; and this is exactly what social media creators want. I was trying to live a life outside of my own and, in consequence, I was ignoring the one that I was given.
At birth, we inadvertently all have the same goal in mind concerning how we want to live. We simply just want to enjoy. Then, I ask, why do we subject ourselves to countless hours of scrolling through a device that brings absolutely no satisfaction and bears no fruit in our daily existence?
Despite society's constant reminders to accept oneself, we create altered personas of ourselves on the internet, in an attempt to attract the biggest impression. We have created a dichotomy on how to uphold oneself in the public sphere; you may be yourself in private, but must be able to transform online into a person that has zero flaws in fear that we would be perceived as being "socially inadequate".
I didn't need this pressure in my life, so I gave it up completely for a couple of months and rediscovered the joy in experiencing. I'm not saying that everyone should make this step, but rather I challenge everyone to look up from their phones and cherish the day. 'Cause, after all, we may never know what's around the corner.
