This may seem like it goes without saying, but I feel the need to shout it from the rooftops. Instagram likes DO NOT matter. The number underneath your picture has NO correlation to your worth as a human being.
I love Instagram. I enjoy sharing my highlights and seeing what all my friends are up to. I have a healthy relationship with social media, as I acknowledge that Instagram, while fun, is not an accurate representation of the highs and lows of human life. However, I wasn’t always like this.
I’ll admit it, when I was in middle school, I used an app to get more likes on my Instagram pictures. If I didn’t hit an arbitrary goal in an allotted window of time, I deleted the post. I never paid for my likes (perhaps because I had no source of income at the age of 12) but I allowed for the number of likes I received to have a distinct effect on my mood and my perception of myself.
When I was in high school, I was older and slightly wiser, so I didn’t care as much, but I still set goals in my head for how many likes I wanted to receive. And while I didn’t delete underperforming posts anymore, I would still be a little bummed if a post didn’t live up to my standards.
Then, the summer after my freshman year of college, I experienced one of the best days of my entire life. I got to see my long-time favorite band Panic! At the Disco in concert for the first time with my best friend Sierra. I was on cloud nine.
By then, I had started posting more of what I wanted and less of what I thought people wanted to see, so I posted a blurry selfie of Sierra and me. The picture was snapped just minutes before the concert began, and it was the most excited and happy I had been in a long time.
The post got 193 likes. 193 likes is nothing to squawk about, but this was a time when I was getting at least 210 likes per post. Surely the best day of my life warranted more than 193 likes. But for the first time, the number under my pic didn’t register as good or bad, it was simply a number. The picture capturing one of the happiest moments got 193 likes, and I could not have cared less.
I shared a moment of pure joy in my life, and that was all that mattered. Besides, isn’t that what social media should be about? Sharing the awesome moments (and the not-so-awesome ones— being real is so valuable) is what makes Instagram such a fun, collaborative space for self-expression.
So the next time you post on Instagram, make sure you’re posting for yourself. Post what sparks joy in your heart, not what makes others tap that insignificant little red heart. It may just change the way you think about social media altogether. It did for me.