Social media. It’s all people can focus on nowadays. It’s how we get information and know what’s going on in each other’s lives. It’s changed and influenced the way we do everything now. It gives you an insight, a glimpse, into someone’s everyday life. I see social media as both good and bad, especially over on Instagram. There’s the people who you follow that are authentic (at least you’d like to think so), then there are the people who edit their photos to the extreme and put on this persona that they have the perfect life that you should be envious of. And the sad thing is that those people are influencing younger kids on how they should look or act. They’re essentially basing what they should be on a lie. It’s become such a numbers game. Instead of focusing on posting what you want to post, it’s about how many followers you have or how many likes you get on that one post. And all these influencers with their sponsored posts. It’s just different versions of the same thing. I mean it’s great that these people are making some money working with a company, but it all just seems so redundant to me with a random phrase or sentence, then #ad. It’s gotten to the point where it’s more of a marketing tool trying to get the consumer to buy whatever they’re selling. And honestly? I’m kind of getting over it.
That’s why I’ve really been focusing on who I’m following this past year. I’ve unfollowed people that I just wasn’t getting anything from what they were posting. It’s become really important to me that I go onto Instagram with the attitude of feeling inspired or happy for other people and what’s going on in their lives, not leaving the app feeling like I’m totally not doing life right. I feel like we’ve come to the day and age where we have so much information to consume, we need to be conscious of what that information is and if it’s really benefiting us in the long run.
Instagram is a highlight reel of people’s lives, and we aren’t seeing everything going on with that person. We see the good, rarely the bad. I’ve started to ask myself what I’m getting from following certain people on Instagram. Am I feeling motivated? Or am I feeling less than? I’ve realized this past year that I want to feel motivated and encouraged when I leave the app, not like I’m failing at life. If I’m getting nothing of value from following that person, then why am I following them in the first place? I guess I’m writing this post as a way to encourage you to really look at what you are consuming everyday. It impacts you in ways you’d never realize. Go on an unfollow spree of people who just aren’t serving you in the way you want. If someone is making you feel like crap about your life, whether that’s their intention or not, unfollow them. Your mental sanity is more important.