Social media sites have the ability to ruin lives. Self-Confidence? It could disappear within seconds for some people. Respect from others? Negative comments can take that away from you. With the era that we live in, it seems as if all that people care about when they post a picture or a status is the amount of likes that it gets or who notices it. This is not how people should think, but sadly it’s an easy thing to do. With the internet being so common to most, it is easy to become absorbed in what those online have to think about how you look and what you post to your accounts.

I have learned from experience that it is difficult to not care what people have to think about you, but I had to learn to overcome that. I didn’t like second-guessing which pictures I posted on social media, or the feeling of not being good enough when the pictures I posted didn’t get as many likes as others. It took me awhile to realize that it shouldn’t matter how many likes my status or my pictures got, and that the only thing that I should care about are the memories that I’ve created with those who are close to me. I was naive to think that other people’s opinions on my life were relevant in how I should feel about myself and my accounts. I mean, what matters most in life is what you do when you focus on things that are outside of phones and technology.

Once you realize that the amount of likes that you get on social media doesn’t matter, your life gets so much better. You no longer feel like you’re not reaching some expectation that others have put before you, because there isn’t one. It’s the best feeling to realize that you should only listen to your own opinion and not someone else’s. Life becomes easier then. Sometimes it’s so easy to compare yourself to others and put yourself down, but that’s not how it is supposed to be. Social media was created to express yourself and show your ideas to the world, not to doubt yourself and your abilities. You are more than a “like” on a screen, and I hope you realize it.