If Instagram didn’t have likes or followers, would we all still use it?

We live in a world dictated by numbers, numbers of likes, followers, tweets, views and filters.

How many of us are suffering from social media addiction? Is it a real illness? Addiction usually refers to compulsive behavior that leads to negative effects. If that’s the definition, we have a real problem.

“Being liked is not the same as receiving likes”

If you spend just two hours a day on social media, that’s a month of your year looking at a screen.

Recently, Australian model Essena O’Neill who rose to fame on social media, quit all social media due to the fact that she realized social media isn’t real life. It’s only a distorted glimpse of someone’s life.

“I’ve spent the majority of my teenage life being addicted to social media, social approval, social status, and my physical appearance. Social media is contrived images and edited clips ranked against each other. It’s a system based on social approval, likes, validation, in views, success in followers. It’s perfectly orchestrated self-absorbed judgement,” said Essena O’Neill on her website Lets Be Game Changers.

Spending a few minutes a day updating an account is fine and completely normal, but spending hours on hours scrolling and comparing yourself to others is time you could have spent collaborating with people in real life.

What is “likeable” about a person who is always on his/her phone instead of interacting with others?

Think of it this way, before social media, people actually talked to each other… So why is it so hard to do now?

On O’Neill’s site Gary Turk produced a video that encourages people to Look Up.

http://https://youtu.be/Z7dLU6fk9QY

“Photoshop is not reality”

O’Neill says, “I say take a full week break from social media to understand just how much you do or don’t rely on it.”

Today, people have the tendency to believe that everything they see on the internet is true.

Living without social media, how will you get your daily updates on world topics? You could turn to unbiased news sources such as The Washington Post.

Other celebrities, such as Zendaya Coleman, a Disney Channel star,  have spoken out about the distorting effects of social media

Coleman, a 19-year-old actress/model became outraged when she saw her professional photo had been Photo-shopped after she completed a photo shoot.

“Had a new shoot come out today and was shocked when I found my 19-year-old hips and torso quite manipulated. These are the things that make women self-conscious, that create unrealistic ideals of beauty that we have,” said Coleman in her Instagram post.

“How to get help–How to be normal again”

Put your phone down. Why do you need it constantly?

You don’t have to quit social media, just take breaks posting about yourself and your daily activities because, honestly, who cares what you had for breakfast?

Instead of trying to take the perfect candid shot on your vacation, live in the moment. Those memories will last longer.

Lastly, stop Photo-shopping your images to make yourself skinnier/curvier/prettier or whatever you do, we all know you don’t look like that in real life.