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We live in a world completely dominated by social media: a world where your image is based entirely on what is put on the internet. If you're a model, the number of your Instagram followers may be the contributing factor that gets you hired. Getting thousands of likes can lead to brands sending you free products, and you can get paid for posting about it. People who make videos on YouTube have the opportunity to get paid handsomely, based on the number of views they get and how much advertising is involved.
There's nothing inherently wrong with this marketing strategy because it is designed for our digital age. However, the mindset that comes along with this is dangerous. Social media provides a way for anyone to fabricate their life. We only show the best parts of our lives, which are the parts with good lighting and a nice filter.
It's easy to scroll through someone's Instagram and wish your life was like theirs. "How can they travel so much? Do they really look that good all the time?" There's something detrimental about these thoughts. It not only consolidates someone's life into a single picture, but you can also start feeling inadequate because you think your life isn't anything like theirs. You don't eat at places where food looks as good as theirs. You wake up in the morning and glance in the mirror, and you know that you look nothing like the picture of the girl you saw online the other day.
Comparing yourself to others isn't limited to social media, perhaps it's only exaggerated because of it. It's just as detrimental to hear about someone's success, whether it's a new internship, job, or apartment, to feel like whatever you accomplished isn't good enough. It's hard to hear about your peers being successful, especially when, like most of us, we're at a time in our lives where we're still figuring everything out. What does it mean to be an adult? How do you find something you want to do for the rest of your life and still get paid for it? How did they seem to figure it out so easily? Why does it seem like they have their life together and I don't?
Sometimes, it's not easy to remember that everyone has their own timeline, their own way of figuring out their lives, and it doesn't always have to be exactly like your one friend with the killer internship. It's easy to forget all of your accomplishments, which are probably more monumental than you give yourself credit for.
So, of course you don't look like that girl with the nice picture on Instagram, because no one walks around with perfect makeup, great lighting, a nice filter, and a precise angle that captures your "best" side. You are a person, full of laughter and tears, memories and secrets and love, and no one could possibly know that about you just by seeing your profile or hearing about what you've done. If you judge anybody else or yourself solely on their accomplishments or what you see about them online, you diminish both yourself and them.
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