Quitting Social Media

I think it's safe to say that social media has been both the best and worst thing that has happened to me. On one hand, I can't imagine what I would do in my free time or how I would keep up with anything and everything before social media. But I also can't believe how dependent I am on my phone. I am really into the cliche apps any girl my age would be on 24/7. I have Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Instagram and even a YouTube channel. I follow all sorts of accounts, but there is one person in particular that I am writing about today that has really made me reevaluate the point of social media. Her name is Essena O'Neill. 

Essena is a popular face who made her rise to social media fame on Instagram. For those of you who don't know, if you're tall, skinny, wear nice clothes and can take gorgeous selfies there's a good chance you can become Instagram famous. I know it's a weird concept, but it happens. It happened to Essena. 

I was on Twitter one day when I saw all these tweets about Essena and how she had created a YouTube video (which has been taken down by now) about the realities of those who have a massive amount of followers on social media and how she was quitting social media for good. Not only did she call them out for being "fake" and "dishonest" to their so-called fans, but she also made it a point to call herself out. She explained to her viewers how she became so obsessed with being liked by people over the Internet that she was not really enjoying her life. It was all some sort of act to make people think she was always done up every second of the day. She said she would take hours to get ready to go to some beautiful location just so she could have a photographer take some pictures of her at the beach or in a garden, but was never able to really enjoy the moment. She went on to explain how it would sometimes take up to 100 pictures to find the one perfect one that she could post online everywhere. It was all a lie and Essena wanted everyone to know that. 

She now has a website called "Let's Be Game Changers." Essena has reinvented herself. She changed every caption of every one of her pictures explaining the realities behind each one. Whether it be about how much she got paid to wear a dress or how many takes it took to look just right, she has told the whole world and is not ashamed of it. 

I am writing about this because I wanted to explore the idea of the Internet and how deceiving it can be. For a lot of people, social media has consumed them. They follow not just their close friends, but celebrities as well. For some, it's to have a sense of what their lives are really like. It is like a way to experience a life they don't get to live and they want to constantly be a part of that. It's hard to find the distinction between the truth and a lie over the Internet. You never really know what it's like behind that camera or behind that computer screen.