“Your worth is not measured in likes, comments, notes, or followers, but in your ability to love, be kind and keep negative comments to yourself, take notes, and lead by example.”
On a Saturday morning, cozy in my bed, I lift up my face mask. My hand instinctively reaches for my phone and within seconds my fingers have opened up Instagram. I’m scrolling before I can tell myself to stop. No Instagram!
But I love Instagram. Still, the grasp it currently has on our society is alarming. First thing in the morning, we reach for our phones. At night we scroll ourselves to sleep. The posts we like, the places, the faces, the advertisements we see, they soak into our subconscious. Mental illness, body image issues, loneliness, and advertisement fraud can all result from social media.
But I love Instagram.
I do. I love the platform it could be — a place to promote creativity, self expression, community and collaboration. I love sharing the places I’ve been and sharing stories from my travels, as much as I love seeing and experiencing others lives through simply scrolling. We can connect with family, friends and create new connections based on interests and aesthetics. Artists can find each other and collaborate. People can follow other people from all countries, all walks of life and relate through our similarities as well as learn from our differences.
And it can be fun and beautiful, sometimes exciting, thought provoking and hilarious.
However, I also hate Instagram.
Social media is media, and media can be altered. It’s photoshopped and edited and censored and tends to show the bright and happy versions of our lives. When we scroll and see everyone else’s perfect life, we also want perfect lives. We want to travel to the most places, be the most adventurous, the prettiest, have the skinniest legs, the fluffiest cappuccino. We forgot that these “lives” are fake. They are curated versions of the actual lives we live. We become competitive with each other. We are hurt when we see our friends having fun without us. We are jealous when we see our acquaintances gaining more success. We hold our lives up to impossible standards. Standards that can’t be met because they’re not real.
I remember when I used to travel to destinations to enjoy and explore, not caring about taking photos or Instagram Stories. Now, when I travel I’m focusing on perfect pictures and videos. I’m constantly comparing my Instagram posts to others.
Life is not perfect.
Recent studies have linked high levels of anxiety, depression and bullying to specifically Instagram. Time recently published an article on the issue saying, “Previous studies have suggested that young people who spend more than two hours a day on social networking sites are more likely to report psychological distress.”
Distress brought on by a photograph! I can relate. We all can.
Body image issues especially resonate. Everyone on Instagram can be a model and everyone on Instagram has access to editing programs. You can photoshop your face, make your waist smaller, your legs longer, add a sparkle to your eye! In reality, these people look nothing like their photos. Smoke and mirrors. Still young women ache to look like these fake images, but the women who post these photos also feel pressure to perpetuate their image of perfection. They have to keep their followers. Maintaining followers gets models and influencers more jobs. At castings, you’re often asked to sign in — Name, Agency, Instagram Followers. Followers equal business. Business is money.
Influencers make money through advertising, a whole other issue on which some light should be shed. Followers trust their “leaders”, but influencers are being paid to promote. They take beautiful pictures with their “favorite” lipstick or weight-loss tea, and followers buy the product. These posts are essentially commercials and are now being marked as such. The influencer’s recommendation is marred… they’re being paid! An influencer’s Instagram moves away from a personal website and into commercial advertising.
The solution is unclear. It’s frustrating, but I’m not giving up on Instagram. I’m still going to use it the way I want. I’m still going to scroll through on a Saturday morning, but I’m going to be more conscious of who I am following and reduce the time I spend on the app.
We need to consider living our real lives, editing less and experiencing more.
We need to remember that success on social media does not translate to happiness or fulfillment.
And we need to put down our phones more. We need to more engaged with our family and friends.
Some of the most successful people in the real world, have reached their potential because they don’t waste time deliberating filters. They work, they have conversations, they connect with other human beings face to face. They set goals and they achieve them. I’ve been lucky enough to meet philanthropists, doctors researching the cure for cancer, multibillionaire business owners … and a lot of them don’t even have Instagram.
Maybe the answer lies in living truthfully. In our bodies and on our platforms. Maybe if we post what we love — our art, our family and friends, small pieces of beauty, happy moments, thoughtful moments, even sad ones. Maybe then we can grow stronger together and build a more authentic community.
When we’re honest with ourselves and others, we’re happier. Everyone can relate. We’ve all had similar experiences, just different stories. Let’s focus on our life and not the post.
