The problem with social media isn't social media.
We live in the world of a screen. It's the first thing we do when we wake up, before we go to bed, during class, and almost every spare moment we get. We are surrounded by the sharing of our lives and we feel validated by clicking a single heart that adds up to multiple hearts, and if we don't get a certain amount of those we delete whatever it was because we think it wasn't good enough. Now this is not one of those articles where I say we need to get off our phones and stop and smell the roses, even though we probably should. But our generation is consumed with the validation our phones give us and the problem isn't what we're blaming.
It's a constant battle between what we perceive and how we act with that perception. Ever since the recent video was posted by an ex-model whose whole life was consumed about the image she gave out on social media, I've been thinking about a lot about this issue. She also isn't the only one to blame social. In fact, there have been multiple accounts where people have bashed and blamed media for our self-loathing, but is it really the fault of social media for our insecurities, like she said it was?
Personally I don't think it is. I believe that we are in charge of our own feelings. Yes, our feelings are the ending in an equation of actions, but ultimately we can choose how we let these things affect us. It's almost ironic to me that we are bashing what we feed into most. Instead of changing something that is, honestly, never going to go away anytime soon, let's change what we can. What we can change is our own personal perception of what is on social media.
All too often we look to the airbrushed magazine covers and flawless models on Instagram for how we should appear or live our lives. Even when there have been so many movements talking about how filtered and photoshopped these pictures are, we still look to them as if they are real when we know that they aren't. The whole point of these types of advertisements, and yes they are advertisements because although they may not be selling you a singular item, the point of them is to sell you and idea of what you should be, and that's exactly what they are doing.
It's a complete business out there. They put out what we feed into. So many times these people and accounts we look to are paid by certain companies to look a certain way and promote a certain product. Companies know exactly how to manipulate the screens we scroll through. They provide instructions on when to take the picture and when to post it, due to the amount of people online. They tell you how to pose and how to caption the picture. It is an extremely calculated process because it's money. So if we understand this concept we can understand that what we see is not what "naturally" happens. Happiness is what we strive for in life, so why do we let these unreal expectations suppress that?
If we take away the idea that whatever is being portrayed is what we should have, we change the problem with social media. We change ourselves, and we change our insecurities. I know its not easy; I mean if it was easy we wouldn't be having this talk here in 2015. Media has always and will always have influence over us, but we can change the influence it gives us. I also personally believe that we as humans all too often blame our problems on something besides ourselves. Yes, it's natural; no one wants to blame themselves for anything because it's easier to push the blame on something else than accept that you are the one at fault. However, you are the one that is in control and you have the power to control how you feel. We choose how we let things affect us, and isn't that easier than feeling defeated by something on a screen?
So once again, the problem with social media isn't social media. It's us, and once you own up to the fact that it's a choice to let it affect you, you are instantly freed from the chains it can lock you into.
