Social media can be misleading. When we go on Facebook, Instagram, or twitter, we create a platform for what we want people to think of us. The truth is that there is no truth when we look at one another through our different online profiles. We tell ourselves that it is a way to “stay in touch” or “find old friends.” How many times do you actually find an old friend on Facebook compared to all the times you go on everyday? Do you really use Facebook because you care about what others are doing? I know it seems harsh, but we really only use it for social gain. In reality, even if you wanted to see how someone was doing, there profile or posts are just a façade as well. There is a reason that people say, “don’t trust the internet” and the term “catfish” did not come out of nowhere. Social media is a virtual world where we can be and look like whoever we want.
Think about all those times you have posted a picture. Have you ever posted it without putting a filter on it or cropping it? The word “filter” even expresses the process we take before we “insta” or put up a new album on Facebook. We filter out what we do not want the rest of the world to see. There are times when we filter a picture to the point where it looks nothing like the original. Not even just with the occasional selfie, but also pictures of nature. We want people to be jealous of where we go on vacation, so we saturated the hell out of the photo to the point where it looks fake or off of google images. You know what they say, if you don’t post a picture, were you even there.
How is that ratio doing? The most pathetic thing about it all is that we do it for the approval or likes of others. I have seen people on many occasions delete a photo after posting it because it did not get enough likes in a certain amount of time. Ask someone how many likes they get per minute or their most liked picture. I bet they know it off the top of there head. We also have the tendency to ask for an outsider’s opinion before putting anything out there. But, why? Why as humans do we feel the need to be “liked” by people we barely know or, sometimes, do not know at all?
How did we get to this point? We all do it. I admit I do it all. It has become just a social norm to have an account on all forms of social media, and we all have this unspoken goal to get the most likes or followers. If everyone knows it is fake and nothing we see or scroll past is original, why do we care? Think of all the work and thought you put into posting something. Now, think about the lack of thought you put into double tapping or giving the thumbs up to someone else’s post. In the grand scheme of things, they are so far off from one another. There are times I will scroll through Instagram or Facebook and merely like something because I know the person. It rarely has anything to do with the content. Ultimately, we are all just on one big episode of Catfish and, for some reason, we do not mind at all.
