Social media Will break you!
One Saturday afternoon Jane received a call from her classmate Deena asking her to check on a picture she had uploaded on her Facebook page a few hours ago. Jane was anxious about the reaction she would get and the kind of comments she would get on the post. It always worried her. Every time she put up a picture on any of her social media pages, she battled the temptation of pulling it down several times for the fear that it might be rejected by her friends who were always posting better pictures than her.
She logged into her Facebook account with trembling hands, her heart beat rapidly as she scrolled down the post. She hadn’t received any like, except for one comment that broke her heart into pieces. Shiro, a new friend she had just accepted had commented, telling her to use filters to hide her acne scars so as to get likes.
The whole thing crushed Jane’s confidence. She felt ugly and unlovable. For so many days she hid in her room with fear of people laughing at her for having acne. She would fake sickness to avoid going to school because she no longer had the confidence to walk out of the house.
Trying every product her friends suggested for her to have a smooth, spotless skin, her face kept worsening. Her self-esteem degraded to a point that she started giving in to her friends’ nags of posting her nude pictures so as to get more likes and popularity on Facebook. Jane’s mother got worried by her daughter’s deterioration in studies and her sudden change in socialization attitude. When she talked to her, Jane admitted that she was depressed by her social media activities. Her mom later talked her through and helped her to regain herself. Jane realized that she was even more beautiful and intelligent than her friends on Facebook thought of her. She instead resolved to love herself despite her flaws, something that regained her confidence and high self-esteem.
It’s surprisingly easy to feel lonely in a whole interconnected world. It’s not strange how being ignored in a world where everyone else is paying attention can push a sixteen year old to depression. Truth is, as much as social media has its positive perspectives; it is a big challenge to teens today. Constant social media comparison happens every day and the fear of missing out on what your peers are doing is so real. Reality is that most people are just trying to showcase the best part of their lives. Life can be ugly, hard and challenging sometimes but we shouldn’t use the same scales to measure different realities. Love yourself first, that’s all that matters. Love who you are and what you do and this will help you develop a stronger sense of confidence and self-worth. Walk away from anything or anyone who takes away from your joy. Life is too sweet to let one social media post end it.
By Gracey Eunice