I Think Social Media Drives People To Depression
Social Media is the devil. Literally. I grew up in the 90’s where you would watch on “Dr. Phil” the plastic surgery obsessed people that wanted to look like “Barbie” or the girls on magazines and would go through extreme lengths to achieve their look, but then it was seen as a character flaw or a concerning self-identity crisis.
I remember when Instagram first became popular and we were bombarded with airbrushed, heavily edited photos of models from Europe and Kardashians, constantly looking perfect and on vacations 12 times a year and you could always tell yourself “okay, but that’s not real”. “Okay well they photoshopped this”. “They are millionaires”. And to be honest, I never really felt pressured to be like them because I felt like it was so unattainable and there was a general understanding and acceptance that they were far removed from reality. You didn’t care if your boyfriend was fantasizing about these people because they were photoshopped and out of reach to the general public .
But then, social media (particularly instagram and Facebook) started taking a turn - for the worst.
Somewhere along the lines, regular, non-famous/rich local girls I knew or were from my small city in CANADA of all places... started consistently posting these heavily edited, picture perfect Kylie Jenner worthy selfies and vacation/bikini pictures, and suddenly girls from small, tiny towns in sororities started posting provocative and perfectly photoshopped pictures and started gaining thousands of followers to the point that their following matched that of an ACTUAL public figure. Several Girls I walk past nowadays in the mall in my small city in Canada, have 30k followers and although it is impressive , I feel that it is so harmful to other regular girls.
The harm is that we are no longer comparing ourselves to the “unattainable” Kendall Jenner look-a-like from France, but the girl next door that you attended high school with before her lip fillers/ face tune/ glow up. It’s refular, everyday human beings that are now setting the standard high, which I personally think is far more harmful to our self esteem then some far removed famous person across the world.
When did we get to the point where random people’s instagram feeds are comparable to that of a Kardashian?!
And how are our 12+ girls supposed to process their insecurities when they are not comparing themselves to CELEBRITIES, but to the people they walk past daily on the street?
Is it just me, or does anyone else feel like this is far more harmful?! These are girls we know, girls we’ve grown up with, girls from the same small town as us who gain 300k followers because they post bikini and lingerie pictures as if they are Kim Kardashian’s or Daphne Joy. How are young girls supposed to grow up with a normal mentality when their peers are gaining the world and getting financial offers over their photoshopped, scandalous pictures?!
Furthermore, this happens to play a factor in relationships because your boyfriend’s “WCW” is no longer a celebrity, but an Instagram famous girl from YOUR city who, at the drop of a “DM”, could easily meet your lover in the same city at a local restaurant without having to “catch a flight” somewhere. No wonder there are so many young people with depression and anxiety!!
We are constantly competing to stay relevant even before we open up the apps on our phone to compare ourselves because we already know what we are going to see and we already know we “don’t compare” and we already feel pressured to post the highlights of our selves and our lives before we even see what everyone else has posted for the day!
The funny part is, we KNOW the truth deep down inside. We know that one girl is home from vacation and back in school, but is still posting beach pics. We know they have lash extensions and lip fillers. We know their waist isn’t that small and they used face tune. But we STILL feel inadequate because they are perceived by the world differently than they actually are in the real life. And that’s all this generation cares about. We know all couples fight, but as long as your relationship looks perfect on social media, it’s okay, right?! We know you don’t look like that when you posted your picture, but you look like Gigi Hadid now so that’s all that matters. Why are we lying to ourselves when we know the truth!?
How are we expected to cope?!
Am I the only one out there who thinks this is absolutely crazy, unnatural, and damaging? I’m interested to hear some other opinions.
I remember when Instagram first became popular and we were bombarded with airbrushed, heavily edited photos of models from Europe and Kardashians, constantly looking perfect and on vacations 12 times a year and you could always tell yourself “okay, but that’s not real”. “Okay well they photoshopped this”. “They are millionaires”. And to be honest, I never really felt pressured to be like them because I felt like it was so unattainable and there was a general understanding and acceptance that they were far removed from reality. You didn’t care if your boyfriend was fantasizing about these people because they were photoshopped and out of reach to the general public .
But then, social media (particularly instagram and Facebook) started taking a turn - for the worst.
Somewhere along the lines, regular, non-famous/rich local girls I knew or were from my small city in CANADA of all places... started consistently posting these heavily edited, picture perfect Kylie Jenner worthy selfies and vacation/bikini pictures, and suddenly girls from small, tiny towns in sororities started posting provocative and perfectly photoshopped pictures and started gaining thousands of followers to the point that their following matched that of an ACTUAL public figure. Several Girls I walk past nowadays in the mall in my small city in Canada, have 30k followers and although it is impressive , I feel that it is so harmful to other regular girls.
The harm is that we are no longer comparing ourselves to the “unattainable” Kendall Jenner look-a-like from France, but the girl next door that you attended high school with before her lip fillers/ face tune/ glow up. It’s refular, everyday human beings that are now setting the standard high, which I personally think is far more harmful to our self esteem then some far removed famous person across the world.
When did we get to the point where random people’s instagram feeds are comparable to that of a Kardashian?!
And how are our 12+ girls supposed to process their insecurities when they are not comparing themselves to CELEBRITIES, but to the people they walk past daily on the street?
Is it just me, or does anyone else feel like this is far more harmful?! These are girls we know, girls we’ve grown up with, girls from the same small town as us who gain 300k followers because they post bikini and lingerie pictures as if they are Kim Kardashian’s or Daphne Joy. How are young girls supposed to grow up with a normal mentality when their peers are gaining the world and getting financial offers over their photoshopped, scandalous pictures?!
Furthermore, this happens to play a factor in relationships because your boyfriend’s “WCW” is no longer a celebrity, but an Instagram famous girl from YOUR city who, at the drop of a “DM”, could easily meet your lover in the same city at a local restaurant without having to “catch a flight” somewhere. No wonder there are so many young people with depression and anxiety!!
We are constantly competing to stay relevant even before we open up the apps on our phone to compare ourselves because we already know what we are going to see and we already know we “don’t compare” and we already feel pressured to post the highlights of our selves and our lives before we even see what everyone else has posted for the day!
The funny part is, we KNOW the truth deep down inside. We know that one girl is home from vacation and back in school, but is still posting beach pics. We know they have lash extensions and lip fillers. We know their waist isn’t that small and they used face tune. But we STILL feel inadequate because they are perceived by the world differently than they actually are in the real life. And that’s all this generation cares about. We know all couples fight, but as long as your relationship looks perfect on social media, it’s okay, right?! We know you don’t look like that when you posted your picture, but you look like Gigi Hadid now so that’s all that matters. Why are we lying to ourselves when we know the truth!?
How are we expected to cope?!
Am I the only one out there who thinks this is absolutely crazy, unnatural, and damaging? I’m interested to hear some other opinions.
26-30, F
