Why I Cut Back on Social Media →

Essena O'Neill:

I had everything I ever wanted. Now I'm here and I see how contrived, fake and forced consistently proving to the world 'how amazing my life/body/self is".

I spent everyday looking at a screen, viewing and comparing myself to others. It's easier to look at shiny and pretty things that appear happy than stopping and just getting real with yourself. Social media only became great for me because of the amount of effort I put in trying to portray this 'perfect' person, being born into the flesh I have and sharing emotional parts of my life. Being social media famous is a very unattainable thing for majority of people viewing this. I was attracted to the idea of being liked and of value. I put my value in numbers, not real life people, moments or my natural passions of art, writing... Posting on instagram consumed me.

I can't [tell you enough] you how beautiful life is without a phone, without social media, without comparing, or likes or followers. We are not followers, we are beings of individuality and love. I have never felt so free.

This is the EXACT reason why I cut back on social media.

For me, social media was my creative outlet. It was simply a fun way to share how I see the world with my friends.

But somehow during that process, it became less about creative expression and more about getting validation from others. It got to a point where my day was made if I got a lot of Likes, or my day would've taken a hit because I didn't get enough. I was already in a rut, and I'd constantly find myself comparing my behind-the-scenes life with the highlights of everyone else's.

I realized how much of a negative impact social media was having on other aspects of my life.

Looking at the big picture, it scares me to think the next generation of kids is going to grow up believing their value in life is determined by superficial numbers of followers and likes. I'm not sure how this problem will be solved, but it's good to see a big social media personality address the issue.