How Social Media Is Tearing Us Apart | The Odyssey Online
Start writing a post
Student Life

How Social Media Is Tearing Us Apart

We become so fake with one another that it’s hard to distinguish who’s real and who’s not.

4719
How Social Media Is Tearing Us Apart
WebMechanix

Before the age of social media, as individuals, the only thing we had was our own personality to get by in the world and actually had to socialize with people to fill that basic need of communication. Today, it’s much different because the ways we act in real life versus the ways we act online are often two very different things. This is a problem because what we see online is mostly artificial. While social media is supposed to be about being able to connect with more people, in reality, it’s only driving us further apart. Online we strive to put our best face forward, we are simply stuck living with a fake reality centered on the idea of status that the more “friends,” likes, comments, the better. On Instagram, we hide behind these picture perfect screens some people try so hard to create for themselves, and it’s just used as a way to try to impress people solely by only showing off appearances, or our brunch, what we’re doing, and observing how everyone else matches up.

But out of these large groups of social ties we create for ourselves, we often end up realizing how shallow many of these relationships really are, because we’re not really getting to know many of them. When individuals consume a lot of social media, it twists our minds in a comparison type battle of competing over who has the best fake life. Before we even meet someone today, it's common for many people to go through other people’s posts and pictures on social media as a way to see what they’re like. We like and comment with hopes of getting one back; we take dozens of pictures to get as many followers as we can, we compare each other based solely on appearances, and young women often define the ultimate success on social media as being some kind of model with hundreds of thousands of followers who’s actually probably miserable giving in to fund some rich corporation’s promotion scheme based nearly entirely on Americanized white beauty. Look at Pinterest; users set themselves up for envisioning picture perfect future lives with extravagant homes and weddings, a contributing factor in a survey from Today News about "Pinterest Stress" which shows a causal effect in depression for nearly half of Pinterest user moms.

It's especially concerning because we know enough to acknowledge that it's a problem, and can breed many insecurities, feelings of failure, and stress, but we're not doing much to solve it. In fact, we seem to encourage it as much as possible, especially regarding advertising, promotions, and sales - all kinds of businesses are learning to run their social media, and it viewed as a way to reach a wide range of people by a profit centered focus. But through all the success, we forget about what it's like on the other side of things, and how it's growing increasingly easy to get there every day. We become so fake with one another that it’s hard to distinguish who’s real and who’s not.

Report this Content
This article has not been reviewed by Odyssey HQ and solely reflects the ideas and opinions of the creator.
Student Life

28 Daily Thoughts of College Students

"I want to thank Google, Wikipedia, and whoever else invented copy and paste. Thank you."

56
group of people sitting on bench near trees duting daytime

I know every college student has daily thoughts throughout their day. Whether you're walking on campus or attending class, we always have thoughts running a mile a minute through our heads. We may be wondering why we even showed up to class because we'd rather be sleeping, or when the professor announces that we have a test and you have an immediate panic attack.

Keep Reading...Show less
Lifestyle

The Great Christmas Movie Debate

"A Christmas Story" is the star on top of the tree.

1324
The Great Christmas Movie Debate
Mental Floss

One staple of the Christmas season is sitting around the television watching a Christmas movie with family and friends. But of the seemingly hundreds of movies, which one is the star on the tree? Some share stories of Santa to children ("Santa Claus Is Coming to Town"), others want to spread the Christmas joy to adults ("It's a Wonderful Life"), and a select few are made to get laughs ("Elf"). All good movies, but merely ornaments on the Christmas tree of the best movies. What tops the tree is a movie that bridges the gap between these three movies, and makes it a great watch for anyone who chooses to watch it. Enter the timeless Christmas classic, "A Christmas Story." Created in 1983, this movie holds the tradition of capturing both young and old eyes for 24 straight hours on its Christmas Day marathon. It gets the most coverage out of all holiday movies, but the sheer amount of times it's on television does not make it the greatest. Why is it,
then? A Christmas Story does not try to tell the tale of a Christmas miracle or use Christmas magic to move the story. What it does do though is tell the real story of Christmas. It is relatable and brings out the unmatched excitement of children on Christmas in everyone who watches. Every one becomes a child again when they watch "A Christmas Story."

Keep Reading...Show less
student thinking about finals in library
StableDiffusion

As this semester wraps up, students can’t help but be stressed about finals. After all, our GPAs depends on these grades! What student isn’t worrying about their finals right now? It’s “goodbye social life, hello library” time from now until the end of finals week.

1. Finals are weeks away, I’m sure I’ll be ready for them when they come.

Keep Reading...Show less
Christmas tree
Librarian Lavender

It's the most wonderful time of the year! Christmas is one of my personal favorite holidays because of the Christmas traditions my family upholds generation after generation. After talking to a few of my friends at college, I realized that a lot of them don't really have "Christmas traditions" in their family, and I want to help change that. Here's a list of Christmas traditions that my family does, and anyone can incorporate into their family as well!

Keep Reading...Show less
Student Life

The 5 Phases Of Finals

May the odds be ever in your favor.

2270
Does anybody know how to study
Gurl.com

It’s here; that time of year when college students turn into preschoolers again. We cry for our mothers, eat everything in sight, and whine when we don’t get our way. It’s finals, the dreaded time of the semester when we all realize we should have been paying attention in class instead of literally doing anything else but that. Everyone has to take them, and yes, unfortunately, they are inevitable. But just because they are here and inevitable does not mean they’re peaches and cream and full of rainbows. Surviving them is a must, and the following five phases are a reality for all majors from business to art, nursing to history.

Keep Reading...Show less

Subscribe to Our Newsletter

Facebook Comments