As many of us have heard, online personality Essena O'Neill has recently taken to the internet to talk about her experience. O'Neill described her experience with social media as leading to not feeling like herself and trying to keep up an image that wasn't her. She deleted almost all of her social media profiles and edited captions on her Instagram photos to read things such as, “see how relatable my captions were – stomach sucked in, strategic pose, pushed up boobs. I just want younger girls to know this isn’t candid life, or cool or inspirational. It’s contrived perfection made to get attention." I think that this is something that more people, especially young girls should have in mind when they are scrolling through Tumblr or Instagram looking at all these people they consider 'goals'.
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Everything you see posted online has to be taken with a grain of salt. Nobody wants to post their worst picture or their bad day online. The things people post are their happiest moments, or when they feel the best, and people seem to forget that. I can relate to looking through social media and seeing everyone seeming to be so happy and being jealous that my life didn't feel like that. But who would want to post sad things online? Or a picture where they don't look their best? Nobody.
The girls, or people online in general, don't look like models or rockstars 100% of the time, and I'm sure they're not attending lavish parties and hanging out with 10 of their 'best friends' every night either. It's honestly not healthy to be lusting over the life of someone online when you can have the best life possible for yourself.
Instead of lusting after a dream life or looking at someone you consider 'goals' online, maybe take that time to try to work on your own life. Read a book, do something to make you laugh, or study for the finals you've been trying to avoid. Get some exercise, make yourself some delicious food, or just do anything to make yourself happy. Making strides to make your own life your own personal 'goals' is something we can all strive for.
One of the quotes that I've come across online that sums up most of my point is, "you don't have to be beautiful like her, you can be beautiful like you." So many people compare themselves to those they see online or elsewhere and they don't need to be beautiful like everyone else. They can be beautiful as their best self, not like anybody else. So next time you go online, give yourself a break. You will get there at some point and you'll be living your dream life. Just give it a few years.
