Every morning, I wake up and immediately check my social media. It's hard to remember a time period when that hasn't been a part of my daily routine. Back when social media first became popular, Facebook was the only source for me. I had a page to be in contact with my relatives and, back then, play games.
But since those days in middle school, social media has taken off.
It has transformed into something more than just Facebook and communicating with relatives. There is Instagram, Snapchat and even Twitter. The desire to look and feel desirable is an emotion many girls and women across the world are striving to achieve.
Every post, I question the number of likes I am getting. I question the number of comments. I question if I look good or put together enough in it.
And this isn't just an issue that I deal with.
I have numerous friends text me pictures and say, "Are these good enough to post?" In reality, no one should feel like they need to ask that, basically, as permission to post something about themselves.
Don't get me wrong. Social media is great.
It's a window into someone's life that you might not know a lot about personally. For instance, let's look at my Instagram. I have 86 posts, 887 followers and I follow 897 people. Sprinkled in my feed is selfies, pictures of me and my best friends, family pictures (which include lots of me and my nephew) and photos of what I love doing.
And every picture has a fitting caption.
From an outside perspective, I look like I'm adventure-seeking, a dancer and surround myself with happiness.
Yes, all of that is true, but my Instagram is just a highlight real of my life, which is true for so many people.
What you don't get is that I am a complete book worm. I love to read and would rather read then go out most nights.
I'm a complete homebody. I love being home as much as I do hanging out. And, I question everything I do in life. I attest this to social media.
Social media is the quickest way to destroy someone's self-esteem.
Personally, I've received "hate messages" over Instagram and the only thing they did to me was make me question my values and self-worth. I can see how celebrities have to take social media breaks because, unlike me who has gotten hate once or twice, they get it every day.
It is so easy to let social media take over our lives. It's so easy to sit down and see, "I only got 150 likes yet my friend got 200."
It's so easy to sit there and feel sorry about yourself.
That ends here, and it ends today.
I'm not saying we should delete our social media altogether. I think that as a whole we should take into consideration that everyone has feelings. It's time to stop asking yourself "why," and start remembering that social media is not a reflection of who we are as a person.
The people that lower your self-esteem can only wish they had the happiness that we live every day, and everyone should live by that.
