With half a million followers and an income from her posts, Essena O’Neill, a 19-year-old Australian, decided quit social media. In a thought-provoking declaration of war on social media, the “Instagram famous” celebrity deleted almost all of her posts and renamed her account to “Social Media Is Not Real.” O’Neill exposed her perfectly edited dream life by changing the captions on existing photos to unveil the truth behind the images.
In her newly revised captions, O’Neill revealed the posts she got paid for, how they made her feel and how many tries it took to get the perfect shot. All of her re-edited captions aim to prove that the content we see on social media is merely an illusion.
According to the website she recently created called Lets Be Game Changers, O'Neill accumulated 250,000 subscribers/followers on YouTube and Tumblr and had an average of 60,000 views on Snapchat. Her Instagram remains active to expose the reality behind the platform and her YouTube remains active for purely vegan education, but her Tumblr and Snapchat have been deleted forever.
To explain her reasoning behind why she thinks social media sucks, O'Neill posted a captivating video using Vimeo, which she also posted on her website. In the video, she confesses that she was only ever happy when her content did well. She believes it's absurd that when you put yourself out there, a number on a screen dictates the success or value of your content. O'Neill encourages people on social media to not let numbers define them.
Ultimately, O'Neill stresses: "Please, please can someone make something that isn't based on views, likes and followers?" She wants to change social media as it currently stands. She wants an app that isn't based on social approval.
O'Neill's uncovered truths that are absolutely mind-blowing and inspiring. The movement to become game changers really makes one think about the self-promoting, validation-seeking culture of social media. She not only shares her personal experience with the issue, but she takes it further and urges viewers to follow in her footsteps by not going on social media for one week: "Let's say to each other we're more than a f**king number."
























