Anonymous
Photo by Jalencia Pouge.
If You’re Reading This, it’s JUST social media.
When talking with some of my friends, I noticed we had a shared feeling of anxiety surrounding anything related to social media, even something as small as posting an Instagram story. Before even posting a simple picture of our food, we critique every inch of the photo. Cropping this, editing that, then realizing the picture still isn’t “post worthy”. This made me think back to my old musical.ly account back in elementary school. I would post hundreds of videos without a care in the world, because having fun was most important to me.
Social media is now being designed to be addictive and jealousy-invoking. Because we only see the highlights of each other’s lives, we only feel inclined to share the best of ours. We start to feel far behind in life (mentally, financially, socially, etc.) due to what we see our friends doing online. This causes us to only post our best moments, which then continues the vicious cycle of unrealistic standards. It’s gotten to the point where we feel as though if we don’t get likes on a post or photo, it’s no longer important.
I think we need to have more fun! The constant need to critique every moment in our lives in order to be "instagram worthy” carries more stress than we know. Social media was created for us to connect with our peers, but it seems as though we’re competing to stay at the top of an imaginary leaderboard. Everything doesn’t have to be a battle of aesthetics, achievements, and followers. Post what makes you happy, what’s important to you, what tickles your fancy. Be creative, be cringey, be YOU.
Anonymous, University of South Carolina
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