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Social Media Isn't Everything

You are more than your likes on Instagram or your retweets on Twitter.

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Social Media Isn't Everything
Jeremy Levin

Our lives revolve around social media. We get our news from it, find out about birthdays through it, and we mainly use it to make sure everyone knows our every thought and action. Even though no one really gives a shit. We place so much value in the way we look to other people on social media that we've started to blur the line between what is a reality, and what seems to be the reality.

We decide our value based off of how many likes we get on Instagram. Or how many people favorite our tweets. We see couples who have picture perfect social media profiles full of pictures of them looking in love, and we call them "#RelationshipGoals". We see our friends snapchat stories of their nights, and we get jealous of the fun they (seem) to be having. So I have one question. Why do we care so much?

We've become so accustomed to sharing our lives on social media that we've started to believe everything that we see people do. The perfectly fit and tan couple on the beach kissing definitely have frequent fights, so no, they aren't "#Goals". Your friend having a fun night out (which you are judging only by their snapchat story) probably spent the night with his or her head in the toilet. And just because you didn't hit 200 likes on your Instagram picture doesn't make you any less of a person.

Everything is not always what it seems to be. You can’t judge someone by the things they say on social media, or what they put on the internet. The fun they seem to be having could very well be faked. And the things they’re saying could easily be lies. It is so easy to take everything we see people do and say on social media as gospel. But it’s not. How many times have you put something on Twitter, just to get a lot of “buzz” even if it wasn’t exactly true. So if you’re doing that, I promise you, everyone else is too.

Social media definitely has its perks. You can meet people, share ideas and share experiences. But when it gets to a point where you place your value by the way people perceive your social media, it becomes a problem. You don't need to tweet every aspect of your life to seem busy. You don't need to Instagram every interesting meal you eat to seem "unique", and you don't need to Snapchat your night at a party to seem cool because let's be realistic, the party probably sucked. No one really cares about what you're doing, so post what you want without worrying who will see it or who will like it. And when you see what your friends post, take everything with a grain of salt.

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This article has not been reviewed by Odyssey HQ and solely reflects the ideas and opinions of the creator.
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