BY Nubia Reyna | THE RIDER
Millennials don’t know life without technology.
We were born with it. As children, instead of going out on the streets to play with our friends, we would sit in front of the TV for hours, playing video games or watching cartoons after finishing our homework.
And every now and then, we would invite our friends to play video games with us, but only every now and then.
We grew up surrounded by technology. With technology improving and becoming more affordable every day, 92 percent of the adult population owns a phone, according to the Pew Research Center.
However, they are not used just to talk anymore. They are used to share any aspect of our life.
We can take, edit and share photos in less than a minute. We can stream a live video of a concert, of vacations, or whatever we think would appeal to our social media “friends.”
We don’t share the important things in life anymore. We share what we think will get us the most likes and views.
But, what of this is actually real?
We see girls with “perfect” bodies, “perfect” hair, eating the most “delicious” food, living what apparently is the “good life.”
We see guys with big biceps and ripped abs enjoying and loving their time at the gym, taking shirtless selfies in the mirror.
We see gym couples, travel couples, festival couples, all of them looking deeply in love, projecting a perfect relationship on social media.
But again, what of this is actually real?
People tend to show only the good side of their life on social media.
We don’t see couples arguing because the guy flirts with other girls. We don’t see them arguing because the girl wants to check his phone.
We don’t see all the time and effort a girl put in to get a good selfie: her hair, her makeup, taking 20 selfies before getting a good one and, of course, after getting a good one, choosing a filter.
We don’t see a guy feeling sore, struggling to walk after leg day, deciding whether to eat a fatty meal or lean protein for his muscles.
We only see their perfect selfies with more than 200 likes. With social media, people can twist their reality. They get to become who they want to be, not who they really are.
We all feel the pressure to look “perfect” on social media. We want our “friends” to feel jealous of how good we look and how much fun we are having.
Sometimes it seems like getting more than 100 likes in our pictures is the only way to get approval from our social media friends.
We get so distracted by trying to project this perfect life that we forget that our self-worth is not measured by the number of likes we get on Facebook and Instagram, it is measured by the difference we have made in the lives of others.
Why do people want to get so many likes, anyway?
