social media is fake and comparison is the thief of all joy.
It’s strange that our reflection on a piece of glass, a number on a scale, or the number of likes we get on an Instagram post can determine our mood and our self-worth for an hour, a day, however long. Because when you take a step back and look at it in about 2 seconds you realize how pointless those things are, yet we give them so much power. When life began health was not an aesthetic, and quality of life wasn’t something we could “measure on Instagram.” When living was a matter of surviving challenges that people faced were real. Not to discredit challenges we face today (to be more specific challenges I personally face because yes people are facing very real challenges right now), but it seems like everyone’s perspective has been warped. Because people were not meant to stand in front of mirrors for hours on end and pick apart their appearance, or scroll through Kendall Jenner’s Instagram and wonder what the fuck they put in her genetics. But society and people have a way of staying unsatisfied and wanting more in literally every way possible. And this super general sense of “wanting more” is kind of evil because it is an infinite cycle.
Like with technology and I’m not talking about the amazing life-saving technology I’m talking about the dumb shit, the filters, face tunes, lies, and social media pages that seem to be perfect. All of the fake things we see every day make us feel unsatisfied with ourselves and then in turn we’ll post an oversaturated fake smile on our Instagram for someone else to see, and just like that the infinite cycle of dissatisfaction on social media continues, a very toxic cycle might I add.
So with that being said, it’s important to realize most things we see on social media are fake, angled, posed etc., so find peace with that. I’m not quite sure what the future holds with this cycle but I’ve seen what I would say seems like progress, maybe I’m just following different accounts than I did in high school but I’ve seen a lot of people posting very raw real content, which is impressive.
I feel like we have to also acknowledge celebrities, the standard they seem to hold and why they hold it. They have this mass of people who they don't know, but that know and think about them daily, not only that but comment on who they are and what they look like. I have no idea what this feels like, but I can imagine and I think we can all see the effect in how they navigate social media, in the sense that posts are angled, edited and planned like an equation, not to mention the makeup teams, dietitians, personal trainers that are all also factors in this equation. So when their followers look at these perfectly articulated posts they think they should look like that to, and wonder why they don't. But the reality is not even that person who you idealize so much looks like the person they are posting. So, there’s no reason to compare yourself to that or anyone for that matter, because normal people don't have teams working behind the scenes on their appearance, because normal people don't have that standard to upload and millions of people to satisfy. So when you're navigating through whatever social media I think it's important to appreciate other peoples beauty but leave it at that, there no reason to wonder why you don't look like them because simply put you aren't them and thats why and that is so incredibly ok. I'm also appreciative that at my significantly average following of 1,000 the only person I am trying to satisfy right now is me, and I think regardless of who is looking at you, you are the only person who's perception of yourself matters.
What scares me about this cycle of dissatisfaction is the lengths that a person has to go through in order to realize how fake so many of the things we see on social media are. Especially with young kids that have iPads straight out of the womb these days. And for some people it's just putting a filter over their photo but for some people it comes to a point where their mental and psychical health is jeopardized in order to fit into a mold that does not exist. I would say I’m a pretty smart person I’m almost 20 and it took me fucking forever and I still am learning to accept myself, and yea I do credit my lack of self acceptance to social media, and I think a lot of people would to. So here is my takeaway.
life lesson #1: you are perfect the way you are, social media is fake as fuck, and find peace within yourself, your brain, and your heart because the way you look is the least interesting thing about you.
