We’re Not All 100% Real On Social Media — and It’s Okay

I remember how excited I was to get my first email (and very soon after my first facebook) when I was eleven. Before then, my computer time was very limited to many hours of taking care of fake pets and dress up games. It was my first dive into the world of social media, and how that would expose me to so many new things.

From eleven to thirteen, I was a pretty avid social media user for someone who complained 24/7 about selfies and didn’t even have a phone of her own. I mostly stayed on facebook, doing nothing but roleplaying. I got into arguments over things that shouldn’t matter — like if you’re “allowed to not use proper spelling and capital letters online” Ironically, I’m now one of those people who mainly types in lowercase and will Very Often capitalize random letters to make a point. Sorry, past me!

But there was one thing I constantly lied about online and that was my age. There was something about talking with people and knowing that they know you’re just a small eleven-year-old that made me do it. I’ve always been a person with strong opinions and feeling like someone won’t take you seriously because you’re younger has always sucked.

I learned from myself at a very young age that you take everything from every person online with a grain of salt. They could be crying while making positive tweets about how everybody should be happy, there’s really no way to know. Everything’s edited. My twitter account, my Instagram feed which I spend time putting a cute filter on every single one of them, even my snapchat, which is supposed to be more personal than everything else. There’s always discourse about if that’s a good thing or bad thing.

On social media, I can debate with people without my brain screwing up and making me forget everything I need to say. My words aren’t all jumbled up and my point gets across well when I’m able to sit down and think. On social media, I’m for once in control. I’m in control of what goes on every single account I own and it makes me feel like anxious about life. If there’s one thing that can be messed up and then fixed immediately after, it’s things like realizing that I made a typo or that I can just block people and move on.

Of course, breaks are amazing once in a while. It’s good to remember that while the online world is real, not everyone is having as much fun as they seem. During the school year, sometimes I’ll pick a social media plaform and decide to take a few days not even touching it.

What you put on social media is like the person you want to be. Organized, well spoken, and way cooler than you are. (Which is probably untrue, you’re probably very cool in the first place) But social media is also who you are. It’s a mixture. For me, making things online artsy and organized is almost therapeutic. It’s calming to draw on selfies and edit the colors around, it’s calming to write things like this article.

More calming things that include social media:

Taking selfies with snapchat filters. Never posting them on snapchat but just putting them on your camera roll.
Following loads of art related instagram accounts. Also ones with lots of animals. So when you’re having a bad day, you open instagram and bam! The first post you see is a cat being cute. Amazing.
Projecting yourself on characters while roleplaying them. Which means lots of headcanons that are literally you. But the character would “100% like it too” so, whatever. They’re not you, but they’re similar. Live through them to get out of real life for a moment.
Using the “random article” button on wikipedia.
Blocking people. I’ve gotten past the “I feel bad when I block people!” mind set. If someone is annoying you, press the block button. It doesn’t mean that “they win”, do whatever you need to do that helps your mental health.
Screaming in all caps about tv shows with friends, this includes big group chats where you’re either being salty about something or going “FGHJK”
Messing around with PHHHOTO, which is underated, but very fun. Think gifs but with your own pictures. So instagram + gifs.
Editing anything!! Sharing those edits!

Having a sense of community and making friends is key in a world that still isn’t big on listening to what teens have to say. So what that everything online is edited? The friendships that you make and the art you create never are.