Social media is second nature for our generation. Texting, Tweeting and posting all come as easy as breathing and eating. If you do not have social media accounts, you lose credibility in today's society. It's like an unspoken rule: anybody who is anybody has a social media presence.
The glamorized world of social media is a blessing and a curse. You get to pick and choose what the world knows about you. You have control of how you market yourself as a person. The application, Instagram, is a photography and videography app that allows functions such as posting photographs, videos and gifs on your profile. You can show your approval of post by "liking" it. This world of Instagram has created an alternative universe people of our generation can live in how they choose despite their real lives. The problem with this is the blurred distinction between someone's life online and life in reality.
In 2015, famous model Essena O'Neill quit Instagram claiming that social media is not real life. She exposed all of her posts and explained in her captions how she made the photo look enhanced as opposed to how the moment actually was. She started a movement that had users all around the world realize how much the app is actually taking over their lives.
As a young adult in today's society, following someone on Instagram is how you basically come to know that person. People spend hours figuring out how to take the best selfie, which filter looks the best, or which pose makes you look skinniest. Some people will live their life solely to take a photograph to post on Instagram to show the world that they're doing something. People take photos of their lunch, their pets, their view from their apartment and their parties. If all of this is happening, then how are we supposed to genuinely enjoy moments in our lives without pulling out a phone to capture the moment?
Gaining approval of your life by comparing "likes" you receive on photographs and how many people follow your profile is not a real way to live. Social media is just a presence. It's not your life in pure, genuine, raw form. Instagram is so much fun without a doubt. But, it is slowly deteriorating society by making what things look more important than how they actually are.
So, take a moment. Step back from the iPhone. Look around you. If you are genuinely enjoying a moment in your life, live in that moment. Don't pull out your iPhone to snap the perfect photo for Instagram. Don't think about how many likes you would receive or how perfect that filter would look. Truly live in the moment and enjoy life's simplest pleasures because those are the things you'll truly miss, not the selfie that you posted to your Instagram profile 53 weeks ago.
