The Smile Hides It All.
Social Media has allowed people to feel connected to the outside world without having to actually go out in it. Social Media has become a sense of belong to majority of young people. When posting ANYTHING on social media you must obtain a certain amount of likes in order to feel a sense of acceptance. Receiving under a certain amount of likes can lower ones self-esteem. This has created its own pressure to look good online, and to come across as funny and interesting. Which are all pressures people struggle with in real face-to-face interactions, but now are seemingly applied to a non-stop, global network of people.
Social Media has made it so natural for us to compare ourselves to other people. Seeing how many likes or comments someone has on a picture does not define beauty. We forget to take into account that a lot of what we are seeing, especially from brands and celebrities, is carefully orchestrated so we only see what they want us to see. It is not real life. Everyone on social media including family and friends only ever post the “best” version of themselves. We lose sight of how many shot they had to take to even get to that oh so perfect picture and all we see is a smiling selfie with perfect makeup. All social media profile are an extension of our identity.
I personally think social media affects my own sense of self. Whenever posting anything on Instagram or literally any social media platform I stare at it for a good 20 minutes until I do not like it anymore… this must be why I post once a month. However if I do end up posting the picture I try and post it at a time where I feel a lot of people are online and will actually see and like the picture. Getting a lot of likes is not my main goal however I do want people to acknowledge the picture rather than it just getting lost in their feed. Wanting people to like you picture is normal however this whole concept can be taken to a whole other level. If I do not get as many likes on my picture I do not take it personal and take down the picture. But some people do take it personal and will go as far as removing the picture and sometimes even reposting it at a different time of day to try and receive more likes or even asking people to like there post. Its mind blowing that likes on a photo can make a person feel so small, but we are the ones that give it that power. We all continue to be obsessed with this popularity contest that is often rigged. This leaves us feeling rejected, which causes our self-worth to take a hit. Social media should not have that kind of power over us. I think we all have to be a little more cautious of what exactly is posted on social media, we need to understand that not everything out this is 100% real and there is a lot of effort that went into what we see as “Insta worthy”.
