Social media has become an increasingly influential channel of communication in modern society. It allows people to keep in touch with friends, fans and family members and gives them a platform to share about their lives and channel their creativity. One integral aspect of social media is the freedom it allows users to personalize the content they produce; they can post as little or as often as they want and edit their posts to perfection before releasing them into the world. Users often choose to heavily self-censor what they show the public, revealing only the side of themselves that they perceive as the best and most interesting.
Admittedly, I am one of the many who puts careful thought and consideration into each post, making sure it is appropriate and aesthetically pleasing. I adhere to social media etiquette, such as how many posts I can make in one day, and spend time coming up with cute and clever captions to highlight the fun in whatever I’m doing. However, it has always interested me how my followers would react if I didn’t put as much care into how I present my image online. For one week I decided to test this by “keeping it real” for one week on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook: honest, no filter posts about my life, even the less exciting times.
Day 1
I began on Friday night when I went to my brother’s school concert with my dad. He took a selfie of us and I uploaded it without adjusting the photo settings.
Day 2
First I shared a picture of my Saturday morning activity: watching Shark Tank while wrapped up in a fuzzy blanket. Throughout the day I posted a picture of my lunch, my dad’s steering wheel knobs, and a silly picture of myself congratulating Derrick Henry on winning the Heisman.
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Day 3
When I woke up that morning I posted a picture of my pajamas, then later I shared how I was doing work while watching Project Runway. Later I posted a picture of my errand-running outfit and then a candid selfie of myself and two of my friends who surprised me at my house that night with a tub of ice cream.
Day 4
The first half of the day I posted a picture of my bagel with lox lunch and the laundry I started. That afternoon I posted a picture of my leggings and the In N Out takeout my brother and I got.
Day 5
A cereal bowl constituted my first post of the day, followed by a picture of fuzzy socks and finally a picture of my Chipotle bag.
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Day 6
To start off the day I posted a “get well soon” message, then posted a picture of my Chick Fil A lunch, and finished off the day with a picture of some of the treats my mom brought back from her visit to Finland.
Day 7
A picture of my chemistry joke pickup line shirt kicked off the final day of my experiment, followed by a picture of the highway and a picture of boats as I visited San Francisco with my mom.
From the first post this experience taught me quite a bit about others, as well as myself. When I first started this experiment I felt apprehension and reluctance before each post, which caused me to really think about the source of these feelings. I like to believe that I don’t care what other people think about me as long as I am happy with my actions, and I discovered with this experiment that that’s not completely true. Nothing I posted was outrageous or anything I wouldn’t want my grandmother to see, yet I was scared with each post that I would lose people’s approval or the posts would negatively affect their opinion of me.
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One of my biggest fears going into this experiment was how my followers would react, and looking back I have learned just how supportive some people are of me no matter what. Throughout the week I received feedback online and in person about my social media activity, though none of it was negative. Some people commented on my posts expressing how they relate to the post’s subject, like sharing my love for a TV show or restaurant, and other people shared their appreciation of my optimism. Even those who asked me about my sudden increase in posts were just curious rather than judgmental, and multiple people said they preferred my honest posting style.
When I began this experiment I predicted that the number of likes on each post would decrease as the week went on. Seven days and 24 posts later, I was right, but what is more important are the people who kept it up all week. With each like and comment, my friends and family showed me that they are happy when I’m happy and don’t care about the look of the post as much as I sometimes think they do. Giving a like means more to some people, which explains why some of my posts garnered less attention than others, and this experiment has helped me remember that and put less consideration into a silly number when analyzing the value of my posts. The amount of attention a photo, tweet, or status gets does not determine my or anyone else’s self-worth. What matters is striving to be the best version of myself by finding happiness and being kind to others.
This experiment also reminded me of the importance of enjoying the little things in life. A moment doesn’t have to be grand to be worth celebrating. From good food and relaxing at home to wearing fuzzy socks and doing laundry, there are so many reasons to smile every day if you just look for them. I have always been an optimistic person, and going into this experiment I had no plans to hide any facets of my life nor make a single complaint post, yet I did not realize how many blessings I had started to take for granted. Though I may not publicly proclaim everything I am grateful for in the future, this experiment reminded me to privately recognize my thankfulness more often.