Remember when you had a forever lasting flip phone in the early 2000s and it was all the hype? The ability to slide your fingers across the keyboard was so efficient and exciting. Now, we have so much control of the device living inside the pocket of our favorite True Religion jeans. With one swipe, there is a multitude of applications and websites that can be accessed. This device has a short lifespan as we all know. When your iPhone falls to the ground, you and everyone around cringes and mumbles a prayer under their breath. Who are we? What made us care much and become so attached to this new technology?
Granted, we are living in an evolutionary world full of change and technology. There is always something bigger and better in store, and the products that we have are made to break down in a span of a said number of years. All of this shapes the world, each other, and the way we view ourselves. We have evolved so much that simple encounters and conversations can be more efficient if they happen over social media. Instead of going over to your parent's house to tell them you love them, you can simply send them a heart emoji. It means the same thing, right? Wrong, it doesn't. The amount of effort that went into sending that emoji doesn't cover the amount of worth they mean to you in your life.
We wake up and before we even get out of bed we check Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. In that moment, we are already checked in and connected with this "online world.” The online world is full of ideals on how to live and pictures representing those ideals. We are constantly shown images of how our bodies are supposed to look and how we are supposed to act that we shape ourselves to conform.
As advanced as technology may be, our emotional needs aren't up to date with that, yet. Since when did a certain number of "likes" coincide with our self-worth? Since when is it "Prime Instagram Posting Time” more important than living in the moment? Since when do we have to validate ourselves to others by posting a revealing picture that has been edited over 12 times? Since when has our picture bio say more about us than our personality? Social media is hurting us, why do we let it?
This shouldn't be what we live for. Meeting people and forming relationships over Tinder and Grindr. Today, the whole basis of communication is for the whole purpose of "Netflix and chill" in order to somewhat satisfy our personal desires. What happened to getting to know a person inside and out, I do not just mean what their lips taste like and what alcohol they drink? I mean their passions, favorite memory, flaws and scars that make them unique. That is special in this world, seeing beauty in the obvious.
Apps are just tools that we use to shape an aspect of life, but we are left half broken and half empty. Our human needs are never fully satisfied. We turn to drugs in order to forget about the time we did not go to the gym and ate a whole pizza instead. We use sex to make up for the fact that we are insecure about our bodies and need to constantly edit and improve them. The term “#goals” is used for something far-fetched and seemingly unattainable.
We should use pictures and posts to realize what is healthy and normal, and what is not. To make a path and set goals to achieve our dreams, instead of tearing others and ourselves down.
This generation was never told that they were good enough or worthy enough so they strive for perfection in every aspect of their lives. We are at the point of losing ourselves, we are no longer connected to who we are and what we mean to each other. We become egocentric and self-obsessed. Spending much time reviewing our every picture and every post, questioning ourselves when expectations are not met. Who are we trying to impress? Most of the people online do not even know us, and we are not helping that.
Instead of living in the world we are living for the like. Phrases such as, "Do it for the Insta" have become very common. People are on their phones so often they simply forget how to properly communicate, and cannot sit through a meal without looking at the device in their pocket. This device may have more power than certain lives, but it is just a product. We are more than that, we are meant to live to give more than ourselves.
From person to person, I am telling you: you are good enough. You are worth more than 128 likes on that photo of you with your ice cream, You are worth more than the time you spend obsessing and comparing yourselves to others and their edited lives. Go live your life, enjoy every moment of it. Treasure the moments you share with others, make memories and take pictures. Pictures capture the beauty of that moment, but do not forget that you do not need to prove yourself. You are you and that is more than technology will ever give you.
Stand alone, stand together and know you are not your profile. You are a complex person with feelings, needs and emotions. Put down the phone.
