so•cial me•di•a
noun
1. websites and applications that enable users to create and share content or to participate in social networking.
That is the Google definition of Social Media.
I think there is another definition: I think Social Media is a way for people to share only the VERY best parts of themselves.
The whole point of Instagram is to have people "like" or "favorite" the things that we are doing or have done.
The whole point of Twitter is to share our thoughts and have people validate them.
And Facebook combines both of them.
Here's the thing though. This is not inherently bad.
It is when you rely on those likes or favorites or shares or retweets for all of our self confidence.
The hard part is we all tell ourselves that it doesn't matter what other people think about us but the little tiny part of our heart that we can't lie to knows the truth: WE CARE. Otherwise we wouldn't take the time to share it.
I'm speaking from personal experience here. The other day I shared a photo on Instagram and it has 90 likes. So close to 100. I don't know why I have this feeling that as soon as I hit 100 likes my whole life will suddenly change.
No one is going to release balloons into the sky congratulating you on your accomplishment of gaining the haphazard "double tap" of 100 people on a social media site.
One of the reasons that i know that these likes are haphazard comes from a social experiment that one of my great friends conducted a couple weeks ago.
He posted a picture on Instagram of a half loaded post. So, if you weren't paying attention you would just think that the picture was taking forever to load. Example:
Notice. This picture still has 65 likes. 65. This means 65 people didn't even see the picture before they hit the like button. I know this isn't everyone but it is still alarming.
This is what people base their entire self worth on.
Remember: Social Media compares the best of someone else with the worst of ourselves.
I guess my whole point with this entire post is a reminder to myself that I am more than my social media accounts.
and so are you.
noun
1. websites and applications that enable users to create and share content or to participate in social networking.
That is the Google definition of Social Media.
I think there is another definition: I think Social Media is a way for people to share only the VERY best parts of themselves.
The whole point of Instagram is to have people "like" or "favorite" the things that we are doing or have done.
The whole point of Twitter is to share our thoughts and have people validate them.
And Facebook combines both of them.
Here's the thing though. This is not inherently bad.
It is when you rely on those likes or favorites or shares or retweets for all of our self confidence.
The hard part is we all tell ourselves that it doesn't matter what other people think about us but the little tiny part of our heart that we can't lie to knows the truth: WE CARE. Otherwise we wouldn't take the time to share it.
I'm speaking from personal experience here. The other day I shared a photo on Instagram and it has 90 likes. So close to 100. I don't know why I have this feeling that as soon as I hit 100 likes my whole life will suddenly change.
No one is going to release balloons into the sky congratulating you on your accomplishment of gaining the haphazard "double tap" of 100 people on a social media site.
One of the reasons that i know that these likes are haphazard comes from a social experiment that one of my great friends conducted a couple weeks ago.
He posted a picture on Instagram of a half loaded post. So, if you weren't paying attention you would just think that the picture was taking forever to load. Example:
Notice. This picture still has 65 likes. 65. This means 65 people didn't even see the picture before they hit the like button. I know this isn't everyone but it is still alarming.
This is what people base their entire self worth on.
Remember: Social Media compares the best of someone else with the worst of ourselves.
I guess my whole point with this entire post is a reminder to myself that I am more than my social media accounts.
and so are you.
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