From the very beginning of this "new normal," I have found myself thinking about social media quite a lot, with Instagram on my mind the most, probably because it's the platform that I find myself on the most. Honestly, there have been many times that I felt as though social media may not make it through and out of Covid-19. Part of the reason I have thought this so many times is because I know a lot of people, myself included, that have drastically decreased their social media usage as a direct result of Covid-19. For the sake of my mental health, I can only scroll through social media in very small doses right now because I get too overwhelmed if I see too many things surrounding the virus or our new normal and need to keep my mind off of everything.

Another reason that I thought social media may not make it through this is because, for most of us, we are no longer able to leave our houses or go out and do anything. If we are leaving our homes, it is most likely just to run to the grocery store and we are probably not all that done up to go. With that said, right now, none of us are "living our best lives," which is something that used to go hand in hand with posting on social media. Now, with that said, if you are not "living your best life," odds are, you are not posting, or at least that was the case before the world shut down and Covid-19 took over.

I am not entirely sure when this mentality of "do it for the gram," only posting when you are "living your best life," or the application of countless filters came from entirely, but I am assuming it started just like everything else. In general, people want to be noticed, they want to stand out, they want to be popular, they want to look the best, and be the best. Taking all of that into consideration, people are only going to highlight the very best parts of their lives on the "gram," so that they can get as many likes as possible. This means that people are only really posting the very best moments of their lives, that we are comparing our everyday lives to. In other words, a person could have had the worst week imaginable, but gets a friend to go out with them on Friday night, and they post one good picture that shows them looking great and having fun, nobody would think she spent most of the week before in tears. We post the very best moments of our lives so that nobody can tell that we struggle too. I do believe that we are in a transition of realizing that people are only posting their best moments and that we really can't compare our lives to somebody else's social media presence, but that is so much easier said than done.

Part of the reason that I believe we are in a time of transition with social media right now is because for the first time in forever, we are all fighting the same enemy and we legit are all in this together. Yes, our experiences with quarantine and the virus as a whole look a little bit different for everybody, but, at least for the most part, we are all stuck in the same position. I believe that just these couple of things are the reason that social media is thriving right now. Right now, we are forced to be "TogetherApart," which also just happens to be the latest social media trend, and people are taking full advantage of this.

In this "new normal," I truly believe that people have gotten closer than they ever have been before. People are now actually calling each other to really talk, see how the other is doing, and to check in. People are Zooming, video chatting, FaceTiming, whatever they can to keep their relationships strong and to have it feel as though the other person or people is right there, and I see such beauty in this. I have seen groups of best friends get together for a virtual happy hour, just to talk, watch a movie together, and so much more. Of course, screenshots of all of this have made their way on to Instagram; however, not really changing things all that much. This is the closest that people can get to "living their best lives" right now (while remaining #TogetherApart), it just looks a bit different. Say what you will about this, but I think it's incredible and love that relationships are still thriving.

I have also seen social media used in other ways to keep people united right now. For example, the Mount's Alumni Office has posted multiple different challenges and games that people are participating in to keep people engaged, Masses, Rosaries, and other religious activities are now being live streamed, people are posting memories like never before, meme-tagging, story posting, going live, and are also being more authentic than ever before.

Instagram isn't going anywhere, and neither are we, or our relationships!