“Social media is addictive precisely because it gives us something which the real world lacks: it gives us immediacy, direction, a sense of clarity and value as an individual.”
― David Amerland
So believe it or not…I am a true believer of the fact that self-love and confidence is key, and I like to believe I possess both of those things so why do I continuously seek the gratification from others on social media? Incessantly, day in day out I post unsatisfying, cringey selfies, irrelevant memes, half nude photographs (that’s no longer a thing anymore sorry mum/Luke). Do I really need to flash more skin than deemed socially acceptable to feel noticed? Maybe? Do I compare myself to others on social media? Maybe? Do we ever actually ask ourselves why it is we are so addicted to having this persona on social media? Do we really believe that we are so individually relevant to the people ‘liking’ and reacting to our attention seeking posts? You might be reading this thinking “naaah its not attention seeking.” But that is exactly what it is…every, single time we post a picture of our dog, a holiday we had, a party we attended, we are ACTIVELY seeking the attention of other users on the same platform. We can’t use the excuse “it’s for the memories” …. who remembers myspace, bebo, msn etc. those social media platforms are long gone and are pretty much no longer accessible. What do you think is going to happen to Facebook in 15 to 20 years’ time? To Instagram? All your temporary ‘memories’ long gone. Yet I still can’t delete Instagram and I still can’t stop posting and I am a complete and utter hypocrite for writing all of this.
“We have begun to live in a world, where we eat content, drink content and breathe content, without giving a single thought to its composition and what kind of impact it has upon our lives.” ― Abhijit Naskar, The Constitution of The United Peoples of Earth
Another thing that really urks and confuses me is how obsessed young girls and even boys are with some of these so called ‘social media influencers. As an ‘influencer’ their jobs are to ‘influence’ the population of their platforms, posting pictures of outfits, sunny beach bikini photos, state of the art cars, designer brands, flashy jewels…. No where in that list did, I mention one thing negative. I think it’s really important to remember that these people have stories, flaws, and problems too, but focusing on the positive and portraying that image is what our society values. And I wish that it would really change because its genuinely MIND washing.
“What is it that is so interesting about what’s happening everywhere else but where you are?” ― Eric Overby, Senses
Are we really living in a world more invested in virtual world than reality?
xoxo Laima Bean
