We live in a generation where smartphones and tablets are the center of our universe. We determine our worth by the number of likes, shares, and comments we receive on a selfie. We compare ourselves to every other filtered and edited instagram "model". We've become slaves to our phones, turning every human interaction into a photoshoot just to show everyone how much 'fun' we are having this summer. I myself am guilty of all these things.
That being said, one thing I've learned this past summer is that social media is never what we think. I ran into a girl who was 'instagram famous' a few months back. This was the kind of girl who got hundreds of likes and comments on all of her pictures. The kind of girl who's account I spent hours scrolling through, wishing I was as skinny and pretty as her, and I'm sure I wasn't the only one. Don't get me wrong she was still a pretty girl, but nothing like she portrayed herself as on social media. And she was by no means overweight, but after months of trying to achieve of her body, she was standing in front of me way thicker than I was. It was then that I realized that social media is a hoax.
Since then I've become more aware of social media and began to really observe my surroundings. I would watch these girls take these pictures of themselves while twisting and bending in odd positions just to get the right angle. I watched group shots being taken of girls who were just minutes ago looking bored sitting in the corner, now holding someone else's drinks in their hands while fake laughing and throwing up their hands, only to return the drinks to the rightful owner and go back to the corner. On social media however, you would think these girls were having the time of their lives- drinking, laughing and dancing around when the reality was that the only time they moved from their seats was to capture a picture to put on a show for their online fans. To my surprise it wasn't only girls. I also saw grown men put on their own show- beers in hands and arms around beautiful women who were nothing but strangers.
It amazed me that this is what the reality of social media truly is. We want to look like these people that don't even look like themselves. The instagram bodies we want to achieve can't be achieved because guess what? They aren't real. They have been pinched and smoothed and distorted. We sit scrolling in envy, watching all of these friends have the time of their lives when in reality most of the time that's not even the case. I've stopped believing most of what I see on social media since then, or maybe I just stopped caring. Either way I hope that some of us can do the same. Stop taking social media so seriously and just live your damn life. I'm not saying don't post pictures, hell post all the selfies you want. But don't waste your time envying someone's life based on social media, because nothing is ever what it seems.
