The World at Our Fingertips

Happy Sunday everyone! There’s just something about sitting in my room on a Sunday night after a fun filled weekend that inspires me to write. So here I am again.

Most of you are probably reading this from my link I posted on Facebook or Instagram which is right where my rant starts today.

Social media.

Our guilty please.

Our escape from reality.

Our poison.

The internet has such an impact on us in today’s world it’s insane to think about. All the knowledge we have within seconds. All the people we can reconnect with. It really is an amazing thing. Being able to keep in touch with family you don’t see often, meeting new people, searching all the places I want to visit and finding new music have to be my favorite perks of the internet and social media. It’s an endless supply of everything you could need.

But everyone knows that there’s a dark side to this amazing world we have right at our fingertips.

Most people think of that negative side as bullying and fake accounts harassing other people but in reality it’s much more simple than that. Sometimes it can be self torture scrolling through social media.

Instagram makes it possible to see what other people are liking. You can see what other people like on Twitter. Every platform shows how many likes and comments posts get.

The big one here is how many likes we get. There was a point in my life where I would delete posts if they didn’t get enough likes. That’s sort of embarrassing to admit but at the same time it’s nice to know I no longer feel that unneeded and irrational pressure. But not everyone comes to that realization. I was just a senior in high school when I felt this pressure but now its starting younger. My sister wakes up and goes on TikTok. When I woke up at 9 on the weekends I ran outside to my bike immediately. I already fear that she will feel that same pressure I had one day.

I came to the realization of how silly it really is to care about how many likes you get. There’s a bigger meaning to life than how many people clicked a heart on their phone. Now I post things simply because I want to. For instance I’ve always loved taking pictures and I will never stop posting my favorites on Instagram. But I did stop caring who else liked my pictures. Our society has made us feel as if it is important to be liked on social media. But it’s not. It’s more important to be liked for more logical reasons like having a good heart and a good personality which you can’t see on social media. A pretty face and good body can get you a million likes but sit that person down in front of you and try to hold a conversation and you might find out you’re the most incompatible people in the universe. The magic of social media is highlighting what the world wants to see.

Now let’s talk about the other big one. How social media affects relationships of all kinds. Love interests and friendships alike can crumble. I have witnessed it myself and experienced it first hand. With the capabilities to see who likes what and who follows who it’s impossible to not be curious. That curiosity leads to doubt and doubt leads to arguments and arguments lead to the end. It’s something that our grandparents and even parents didn’t have to deal with. They weren’t worried about their boyfriends following other women. They weren’t worried about comments and friend requests. They weren’t worried about significant others like the opposite sexes posts. They didn’t go right to someones Facebook profile to see what they are about when they first met. It was way simpler.

It starts to make you crazy. It starts to make you question yourself. It’s too easy to lose yourself and start comparing yourself to every other person. But at some point we all have to come back from that world in the screen and realize there is so much more to a person and to the world than what your phone shows. And there is real world that the phone doesn’t show.

Another favorite (not favorite but it’s funny) aspect of social media is knowing people only post the highlight reel of their life. No one is posting their low points. No one is posting that they lost their job. No one is posting that they’re fighting with their girlfriend or boyfriend.

They’re probably doing the exact opposite. They’re probably posting a selfie smiling or a picture of their boyfriend/girlfriend laughing together. They’re doing this as they look and feel miserable. It’s funny and incredibly sad to think about. It’s impossible to know someone based solely off of what they post because not everyone’s life is smiles, beers, and beaches. There’s a whole lot of shitty days mixed in there and we all need that reminder.

After I deleted my Twitter a year ago I felt a sense of freedom. I didn’t have to tweet something everyday and I didn’t have to care if someone retweeted it. Then I slowly started cutting back on every other social media platform. And I have honestly never felt better. I wish that for everyone around my age. I’m no angel and still love to post my pictures and send my snapchats but there is a lot less ‘creeping’ going on, worrying who likes my content, and worrying about what other people are liking.

I know not everyone-especially guys and the older generations- can relate to the struggles of social media but it’s something that can really affect your mindset.

We can’t forget the beauty of enjoying the moment without a phone like watching a sunset without documenting it. We can’t forget the beauty of doing something because we wanted to and not doing it just so you can post it on Facebook. We can’t forget to love our lives just because we’re happy and not feel the need to prove it to others. We can’t forget our own beauty when we only get 5 likes on a post.

There is so much world to see. There are so many conversations to be had face to face. I hope one day we can get back to that and care a little less about the online world.

I’ll probably finish my Sunday night by scrolling through my feeds liking all your posts of the weekends you had but I do it with a different mindset now. I do it with the reminder that what’s important is off the screen and right in front of me.