So after re-watching my snap story a few (hundred) times, and then stalking myself on Instagram, I decided to finally sit down and write this article. The truth is, I, like many others my age, have a problem. Finding myself within the Millennial age group, I am naturally savvy with the new and exciting, and divide my time beautifully along all of the social media platforms I am now a part of. It’s always been a numbers game, and thus, more likes feels like more success and bragging rights. But taking a step back and asking one’s self how much it really matters seems like a very hard pill to swallow; particularly when that pill is the base of social existence for our generation!
It’s so gross how much time and energy one puts into the public internet face that our interconnected world has begun to create for us. Suddenly, Facebook does more than just connect you with friends; it allows you to subtly stalk them and compare your life to theirs. Some may say that social media has started a crisis of self-obsession. Personally, I believe that it causes an obsession with the 'self' that one has always wanted to be. The truth is, I am not the face that appears on your computer screen. I am not always smiling in the summer sunshine and enjoying myself. I have lonely days where I eat Doritos and binge watch Netflix, but you will never see that side of me on my social media accounts. That is the part of me I never want anyone to discover, and thus stays hidden beneath the covers of ‘Throwback Thursday’ hashtags, and posed ‘candid’ photos that I have been waiting to post for a week now.
Unfortunately, many have found themselves at the crossroads of the separate selves that have been invented by them through the internet. As the game continues, it becomes more competitive, and one becomes concerned with a global interface that has zero transaction within the real world. Of course, this article does not carry the ambition to fight this mentality. Instead, however, I hope to urge you, my dear reader, to take it easy on yourself. You are not created to be perfect or incredible. Life is a rollercoaster of events, but sometimes it is also a kiddie train on a direct rail. That just means you are getting started. So don’t allow your routine to bring you down because you are not living up to the standards that you have set for yourself. I can assure you that hardly anyone is living the incredible lifestyle that you may see while stalking their profiles. So enjoy your life in the manner that it was made to be celebrated: without envy and free from the tyrannous eye of your own worried self.
