As I've noticed time and time again, we are living in a world full of instantaneous pleasure. Likes on Instagram, Retweets on Twitter, comments on Facebook.
Being able to instantly watch any episode of any television show you wish with a single click on your computer. Buying something from Amazon just by typing a few things on your keyboard. Chatting with someone you've never met in another city or even country. Having the world literally at your fingertips. It consumes us.
The more we buy into these applications and services, the more we tend to get lost in them. I mean, they are addicting for a reason. We as a generation love our technology and our smartphone apps. Because we are impatient. We want instantaneous gratification. We want validation.
I remember in 8th grade when I asked my mom if I could make an Instagram account and she said yes. Then, the next thing you know, within a week I had already had Snapchat, Twitter, Tumblr, Pinterest, and Vine (and eventually Facebook as well). Suddenly, I forgot what it was like to live without it.
I've gone off and on of social media, deleting and re-downloading my apps and shifting between taking a break and not. Because being addicted to surfing Twitter really does feel like a drug (as well as have mental and psychological consequences). The drug of validation.
In a world where everyone seems to have a smartphone and a few social media platforms as well as extensive group chats, it is really hard to not hide behind your presence online. In a real world that can feel less than satisfying, the online world is a cookie cutter world of lackluster perfection. Which is why it is so easy to pretend to be someone you're not. It is so easy to seek validation from others that you feel may be lacking in reality. The real danger is when we begin to expect validation but may not receive it.
Just from not receiving the instant validation I needed from people when they wouldn't text me back or like my Tweet, worry would start to cloud up my brain and tell me lies about what people really thought of me.
But you don't need validation from anywhere but yourself.
You are the one who creates yourself, not an online presence. You are the one who learns from their mistakes and moves forward and tells others with conviction what they believe in and what they stand for.
Instead of judging or reading into whatever people do or don't do on social media, try interacting with them in person. Talk to people you haven't talked to in a while. Have a conversation with the person sitting next to you in class. Read a book instead of exclusively binge watching that new HBO show. Write and create and make your own content instead of just mindlessly scrolling through the Internet reading Reddit threads. Just do a little bit more to create your own reality instead of having a website create it for you. Validate yourself, on your own terms.
