Why is it that the youth of today base their self-esteem off of social media popularity? When did likes and follows add up to self-esteem? When did commenting on someone's photo replace catching up in person?

Today, young adults all over the world are going extreme lengths to have a strong presence on social media. Why? Because racking up likes, comments, and follows has become a way to measure someone's worth... apparently. And the desperation is clearly evident. People will wait in line for hours to get a milkshake made for 4 people or a rainbow colored bagel, just to take a picture of it to post on Instagram. People will delete their selfies if it doesn't get a certain amount of likes in an hour. And if your crush or best friend doesn't press the like button on your photo, then you can brace yourself for a major hit to your self esteem.

It's so easy to use the excuse of, "Oh I use social media to stay connected to the people I don't see often." And that really is great and all, until you use social media to completely replace any real life socializing. More often than not, people leave the house and go to events, not to make memories and meet people, but to get that perfect photo that will get 100+ like and create a facade of a lifestyle that is either luxurious or fun or adventurous. People would rather focus on sending out the perfectly witty tweet and refreshing their phone every 5 seconds to see how many retweets it has gotten, than focus on the person sitting right in front of them trying to engage in conversation.

When you base your self-esteem off of social media and have to change your entire lifestyle to fit your food choices, music taste, outfits, hair, etc. to be in line with what's trending at the moment you lose yourself entirely. It becomes a vicious cycle of changing yourself to be liked by the masses and continually striving for more and more attention. And when the attention isn't achieved? Photos, statuses, and tweets all get deleted. Social media then can be considered a form of addiction.

With a 24 hour, 7 days a week popularity contest right at the tip of our fingers it is no wonder why so many young adults are experiencing self-esteem issues that can lead to disorders or mental health problems. Doctor's order? Put the phone down, close the laptop, and before you post ask yourself: Am I posting this because it represents who I truly am and is something I want to share or do I just want a reaction out of people?