Social media is a double-edged sword. It allows us to keep up with the lives of people we care about while simultaneously leading us to believe that our lives must be picture perfect.
As of January 2023, there are 4.76 billion social media users, which equates to 59.4% of the global population, according to an article by DataReportal. The article continues, explaining that since this time last year, there are 137 million new social media users, and the average daily use of social media is more than 2 hours and 30 minutes.
Most of us can’t go a day without checking social media. These platforms have created a brag culture among us, strengthening the positive light that we want others to view us in. When something great happens, we want to post so everyone knows about it.
We’ve become aware of aspects of people’s lives that we most likely wouldn’t know about without social media. As a result, we compare our own lives to those we see through pictures, forgetting that no one’s life is picture perfect.
I’ll use my own Instagram as an example.
On June 27, 2020, I posted a picture of a butterfly on my nose. To the world, I seem to be living my best life, surrounded by friends that you can see in the background. What you don’t see are the three anxiety attacks I had that day.
On February 28, 2022, I posted some pictures from Mardi Gras with Matthew Gray Gubler. Yes, it’s cool that I ran into a celebrity while decked out in Mardi Gras attire, but I ran into a celebrity while walking the streets with my dad. I wasn’t experiencing the typical college-student Mardi Gras that I portrayed on social media.
Stephen Laurel “tWitch” Boss from the Ellen Show posted multiple TikToks and Instagram photos where he appeared to be happy. Days later he committed suicide.
There’s more to me than what my Instagram photos reveal, just like there’s more to you than what you post on your social media. It’s over said, but it’s true; no one’s life is as it seems on social media.
We believe that the more likes we receive, the more liked we are, but your self-worth isn’t determined by the number of likes you get.
Post on social media because you genuinely want to post, not because you want others to see how seemingly fabulous your life is.
If it looks good on social media then it was a great time, right? If social media didn’t exist, would we still take the number of pictures that we do? Would we still go to certain events or hang around certain people without the promise of a great Instagram post?
Don’t get so lost in putting your life online that you forget to live offline.
Lauren Madden is a 21-year-old mass communication senior from Mandeville.