Social Media

An honest review

In our generation, social media has become to be labeled as a necessity to our daily lives. In some ways, this idea is good. Having a creative outlet to express yourself and show case it to millions of people is absolutely amazing. But, this idea is also bad. But we will discuss that later.

As a teenager in high school, I experience a lot of pressure. From educational success to breaking the schools code of appropriate behavior. It’s everywhere. Social media also falls in this category. And here’s why.

As I said earlier, social media has become a necessity. At my school, and many others, if you don’t have any of the top 3 social media apps (Snapchat, Twitter, Instagram), you get a square punch in the face of comments about your “oh so boring life.” I was once one of the people who didn’t have all this and it was always a secret from everyone except my friends. But after their comments started to get under my skin, I gave in.

After starting using these apps, I quickly realized how addictive they all are. How easy it is for me to like every photo, retweet every hastage, to watch every story and continue in an never ending cycle. To some people, this has and possibly never will be a problem. But for a person that gets excited and easily distracted by little stuff, this was a problem.

I also realized how competitive it was. To have the maximum followers seems to be the goal. Especially on Instagram. At least for the people that I know in real life, which is a lot, how much they promote their accounts on teachers dry-erase boards during school lessons and everywhere else they can find a place to write their “fabulous account names”. It’s annoying. And it seems that the more followers they have, the more they want.

It’s comes to a point were this stuff is taking over people’s lives. And the reasons behind it are simple; wanting to be admired, to have the spotlight. But the real reasons are unknown.

At some point, I do find myself going down this hole of my life revolving around social media, getting worked about how many followers I have, and getting so angry and self conscious I get about myself when people unfollow me. But recently I told myself this and I tell myself this every time a feel myself starting to slip down that hole:

I am using this app as a way of expressing myself. Through my words and photography. This is my space and I should compare it to other people. I shouldn’t want to force people to follow me so I can feel the feeling of admiration (which is all an illusion). I should have people follow because they like what they see and want to see more of what I do, not for a follow back. And if they do stop following you, screw them. They never had any good intentions anyway.

This speech comes in a variety of forms and the length and details change once in a while.

I, at this point, have never reached above 50 followers on any of the top 3 social media apps I listed above. And that’s completely fine. I’m still living and breathing. My family and friends love me and my writing and not-so-great photography has gotten some good feedback.

Now don’t get me wrong. Social media is amazing. I’m not one of those people that say “social media is the worst thing ever created.” I’m just saying that all good things has it’s pros and cons. People thought Jurassic Park/ World was amazing idea but you guys saw how that went.