“A virtual life is shiny and bright. It’s where you post your prettiest pictures and tell all your best news”
We see actors/actresses, models, makeup artists, etc. portrayed on social media, in magazines, and the television and think how beautiful or handsome they are, and we praise them with such high status. Some may think “but why can’t I look like that”, “they look so perfect”, “wow I want to look like that”.
But what is “perfect”? Why can’t we be satisfied with what we look like? Why does it all have to be about your image?
Living in the 21st century, it feels as though social media is taking over our lives, and as time goes on, it will only get worse.
“However, in a virtual world where it is understood that everyone exaggerates and reality is always slightly distorted, the temptation to lie or stretch the truth is more pervasive than ever.”
Social Media has impacted society is such ways that it makes me question if I ever see someone’s true self if it is not in person. Social media makes people think that we have to look a certain way. Suddenly the number of followers you have, your account privacy, how many friends they post with, and the types of clothes you wear is supposed to determine what type of person you are. To me that sounds like a stereotype.
Kids these days grow up with access to social media accounts, and even though many portals have an age limit, it does not stop kids from getting access. All these images, stereotypes and ideals of how one should look and portray themselves is influencing a large population of the kids growing up. This is a bad thing because it is causing more insecurities and in worse cases depression which can lead to many more problems. An example that I think of when talking about kids growing up with social media is my little cousin who is 14 years old. Every-time we see each other she tends to bring up the same topic and mention the same things. “I have a 1000 followers on instagram now”, “did you see my new post”, “my friend and I are making this new TikTok”, “did you see my new outfit that I posted”. I am aware that times have changed, but when I was that age less than half of my entire class had an Instagram or Snapchat account. But why does all of that matter? Does having 1000 followers actually mean you are popular? Do you post to get attention or to share your moments?
I think the real question here is do you really believe everything you see on social media?
Do we want this to be out future, our reality? What happens from here is up to us.
Unruly Bodies 
You are totally right, the impact of social media can be devastating to body image and perception of where you “should” be in life or what life “should” look like. I feel like Instagram is the most dangerous, personally, given how the photo- only format and shift towards influencer culture reveals only most curated version of people’s lives. I have a friend who has quite a following on there, and their life looks so perfect, outgoing, happy, and satisfied. I know them, I know it’s branding, that I know the real them. Yet I still compare myself to this polished version of them, no matter how conscious I am that it’s just a romanticized version of what’s real.
I really worry for everyone younger than me who’ve grown up with an even more intimate relationship with this particular kind of social media. It’s devastating.
You were spot on with this post! I actually quit social media this year. I deleted my Twitter and my reddit. And I was on those ALL DAY. So that was a big step for me. The only thing I use occasionally is tik tok which I try not to be on all day. I did this for a number of reason. 1. I felt very bad seeing other peoples lives. I had a false conception that theirs were better than mine. 2. I felt like I had to take pictures of everything and of myself all day. I wasn’t in the moment. 3. Its toxic. There are just so many mean people on social media that can get away with saying anything. Especially when it comes to politics. This is particularly dangerous and can lead us down a scary path. But anyways, my life has been a lot better since quitting. I’m definitely more confident and at peace.
Yeah, I think the distortion of reality is the thing about social media that fucked my head up the most and is ultimately why I decided to get rid of all accounts that encourage me to perform any semblance of an identity. Scrolling through Twitter looking at trending topics on an empty sock account is totally fine for me, but when it comes to maintaining an actual online presence…my brain just shuts down. I think it stems from the fact that I know my life is simply not engaging or interesting enough to be worth posting about, and even if it was, would I really want to share this with other people (some of whom I don’t even know???) And then on top of that, even though I know other people’s feeds are highly curated and micromanaged to only show the best highlights of their lives, it still makes me feel like shit because my life is so mundane in comparison that I don’t even have a bare minimum of highlights to post LOL. I think what’s most important is knowing when to reel ourselves in and disconnect when it comes to social media. Just like with other forms of mass media like television, everything portrayed is simply an image that we’ll never live up to (even the people who portray these images don’t live up to them) and the sooner we come to grips with that, the better off we’ll be. Some of us are meant to be disengaged sock puppet accounts and that is OK!