Social Media & Comparison
Living through your twenties can be rough. You have people all in different places. You have some people who are going to and graduating from college, friends getting into relationships, getting new jobs, getting engaged, getting married and even having babies. It makes it easy to compare your own life to everyone else's when you are only seeing their highlight reel and not the full picture. It's so easy to compare your life to someone else's because of our use of social media but we also need to remember that the grass isn’t always greener.
Everyone has their own journey and everyone is going at their own pace, but when we look at social media we automatically compare our lives to someone else's. Unfortunately, social media has made it seem like life is like a race. It's gotten to the point where people compare themselves based on who has the most followers, likes and comments. Life has become so surface level all because of social media. I used to scroll for hours on my phone and constantly remind myself of how much I thought I was behind everyone else. I let social media become this comparison game that for a period of time actually ruined my mental health.
Social media can make it seem like other people’s lives are perfect because let's be honest most people only post their highlight reel. No one posts about what really is going on behind the scenes. People post pictures that look perfect but don’t share anything that is going on when the camera is off. I used to do that. I would post a picture making it look like I was having a good time and everything was fine, meanwhile behind closed doors I was really struggling with my mental health. I was constantly battling my anxiety and depression, however, you would not be able to tell based on the pictures I posted. I wanted it to appear that everything was good. I didn't want people to see how bad I was struggling but the older I have gotten the more I have tried to be real on social media. I try to be as authentic as possible now, talking about the good and bad, the struggles I often face and create a page of authenticity rather than trying to make everything look perfect.
Social media should be about being relatable and not about having to look perfect or having the perfect filter. People should be able to build a connection with an authentic and relatable community on social media. By being more open and vulnerable on social media we are setting the example for future generations that social media should be fun and real, not a place to compare yourself or make yourself feel bad based on number of followers or likes. We should be setting a positive example so that the kids growing up now look at social media as more of a place to be authentically themselves.
Social media used to be a place to express yourself and was never meant to be used for what it is now. Think about Tiktok or Instagram. Most of the time people post because they want to get followers and grow their platforms. Let’s not forget there are those who make a lot of money on social media these days. Now, social media isn’t all bad, but I do think we need to be more self aware about it. We need to get back to a place where people post for fun and to express their true selves, not a place where we need to have the perfect edit. Everyone has a different journey and different path. We need to normalize just posting for fun and not for external validation. I want to use my platform for good, and use it for a space for people to feel free to be authentically themselves.
-Carolyn