In this modern age, you can’t escape social media. It’s an integrated part of how you act, communicate and see the world. It’s hard to see life without it and even with a chance to give it up, we seldomly will. Social media is used to share information about world events, news and new studies that influence our perceptions. It’s also used to snapchat your best friend that you’re 5 tequila shots deep in a club with that guy Trevor from Intro to Psych. Both uses are relevant, but I’d like to focus on the latter; the social part of social media. I like social media, but I don’t like how people become consumed by it.
Social media’s whole purpose is that you post content for other people to see. So it makes sense to be conscientious on how you present yourself on these platforms. Social media can be used as a tool to manipulate people’s perceptions of you. You can present your best self or even a better self. Social media is supposed to enhance your life, not become your life.
I’m sure everyone has that one friend who overshares on social media. They only post things that make their lives super interesting and fabulous. We’re all guilty of doing this to some degree, but that one friend can’t seem to do anything without posting about it first. People get so caught up showing that they’re having a good time on social media that they forget to actually have a good time. It’s like they’re living life for other people’s enjoyment and not for themselves.
For example, I went for dinner and drinks with a friend of mine. After the night ended, I watched her Snapchat. If I was an outsider I would think she was having the best time; all dressed up ordering fancy cocktails and appetizers. Such angled, pretty, colourful pictures of our night. But to be honest, the night was utterly boring since we wouldn’t make eye connect for more than a minute cause she was glued to her phone.
I had a pretty bad case of FOMO (fear of missing out) which I’m sure was caused by my obsession over other people’s social media. All I see are photos of people having the time of their life and then I think that’s how their life must be. When you only post the good, the fabulous and the glamorous, the human element of your profile is removed. For example, it’s hard to see all the Instagram-famous people as more than just their personal brand. It’s important to remember not to feel bad about yourself that you don’t have a glamorous life because it’s just not realistic. It’s like looking at a magazine picture of a photoshopped model and feeling bad that you don’t look like that. The model doesn’t even look like that.
It’s dangerous to compare your everyday life to their highlight reel. You may develop a sense of insignificance since your life isn’t only just the good things. It may be a good photo but the amount of effort that goes into taking those photos isn’t worth it in my opinion. I want to eat my food while it’s still warm, I want to talk without a camera on me, I want to dance without snapchatting every single song the DJ plays. Also, have you ever watched these Snapchats before? Who wants to watch 500 seconds of poor sounding quality and a shaky camera of a blurry DJ playing a top 40 song?
Disconnecting from social media is more than just deleting an app. It’s separating reality from presentation. Just because you’re not posting about your yourself doesn’t make your life less interesting. Confidence and self-worth should not be determined by online attention.