When applying to colleges last year, I wrote many upon many essays and paragraphs, and answered so many writing prompts. The one that has stuck with me the most was a prompt that asked me to answer the question "What makes you happy?" Now, this may be a seemingly simple question with a plethora of answers but when I really sat down to think about the answer I realized a sad truth about my life.

I have grown up to compare myself with absolutely everyone around me. With social media, I could compare absolutely every single aspect of my life to my friends and celebrities and internet stars every single second of every single day, if I so choose to. And for some reason, I keep choosing to, even though it's what makes me, along with so many other people, so unhappy.

So here's my answer to the question:

To answer the question “what makes you happy?” is mockery in this age of social media. With the help and ever-growing influence of social media and internet stars, we are forced to compare ourselves to their seemingly “perfect lives” whether we like it or not. How can we be happy with our “normal”, apparently mediocre lives when people like Kylie Jenner, who is the same age as most people applying for college right now, owns a $2.7 million home in California along with a Ferrari, given to her as a gift from her famous, significant other?

Firstly, this comparison leads to our unhappiness which can then escalate to jealousy, depression, and self-harm. We don’t see people simply enjoying their overabundant lives; we see people posting videos on Snapchat of the latest party, or uploading photos on Instagram, showing off their flawless faces and bodies that they were so effortlessly “born” with. We don’t see pictures of people vomiting because of their excessive intoxication after those parties or videos of them dripping in sweat, bare-faced, with unsightly workout clothes.

The unpleasant truth to all of these seemingly perfect scenarios is always coincidentally omitted, leading us to believe in the illusion of their painless perfection. We might momentarily be satisfied with something in our lives but as soon as we turn on those wretched cellular devices, our happiness leaves us and we go back to that feeling that we have unfortunately grown accustomed to. So to answer the question, what makes me happy are those few, fleeting seconds where I forget to compare myself to anyone else.

So I don't know about everyone else but I definitely need to stop. And it starts with giving myself time to think, pray, and live just a little more without my eyes glued to my phone every moment of every day.