Live by the Internet, Die by the Internet

The internet has become second nature to society, that it is literally impossible to imagine life without it. These sites gave people the opportunity to share their thoughts and creativity to anyone around the world, as well as staying connected with others in their lives. As the internet became more of a household commodity, so did these social media websites. We were able to see what our old high school/college buddies were up to, whether it was through a youtube video or a status update. And this idea was really interesting to see, especially for those who have established internet personalities or even full-time careers from social media. Everyone is becoming famous and getting their name out because of the internet. Some of my favorite musicians all became viral from putting out viral songs on Soundcloud. My favorite internet personalities all make a living from youtube videos. And I am able to network with so many professionals and get job interviews through LinkedIn.

In today's day and age, it's no surprise that most of our communication and information comes from the internet. The internet has become so essential to everything we do that it is literally impossible to go even a whole day without connecting to anything or anyone. So many things we need to do in order to survive, whether it's talking to others, watching tv, or even something as simple as reading an article has become extremely simplified and streamlined thanks to the digital age, and the transition to digital medium will only skyrocket thanks to the pandemic.

I was about 13 years old when I made my Facebook account. The first few years I had my account was probably some of the most amount of time I spend on the internet. This was during a period in my life where my parents were struggling in their careers and my sister was about to leave for college, so being the youngest in my family I spent a lot of time by myself when I wasn't in school. And it was also during this time where I was extremely invested in social media, mostly to see what my classmates were up to after class ended. And as time went on, this idea of staying connected would soon eventually move to Twitter and Instagram. These sites were a great resource to not only stay in touch but to also see what the hottest gossip was surrounding our school or whatever video was spreading through high school like wildfire, whether it was on Twitter or Snapchat. I would honestly say without a doubt that high school was personally the best years for social media, because it was the best way to be informed on all the gossip and drama.

But once I graduated high school the allure of social media has slowly worn off over time. I became less interested in my classmates, and the drama and gossip that once flooded my Twitter timeline has slowly died off once everyone eventually broke free from the hometown bubble and drifted apart to focus on themselves. Platforms that once were great places to stay in touch with classmates outside of regular school hours have become less about staying connected and turned into more of a breeding ground for political propaganda, clickbait content, advertisements, and memes. After a certain point, the amount of content that your brain absorbs starts to blend together that it creates this feeling of numbness and begins to take a toll on your mental health.

I want to talk more about the mental health effects of social media. In my opinion, the worst social media platform of all is Instagram. I can go on and on about how much I despise the platform, but what it really boils down to is the amount of mind numbing content that is manipulated to give off the impression that everyone is living a lavish lifestyle. It exploits a lot of insecurities and influences young people to become narcissists and deceiving about their otherwise mundane lives and creates this FOMO (fear of missing out). I can actually recall one time during my senior year of college when a friend of mine asked me to take a picture of him pretending to drink a beer at an Oktoberfest event. When I asked him why he had to pretend to drink it instead of actually drinking the beer, his response was that he doesn't drink beer, but wants his instagram followers to think he does (you can imagine the cringe on my face when he said this). In fact, there are a group of people on social media that have mastered this art of manipulation and narcissism so much that we have names for these "celebrities." They are known as "influencers" and as far as I see their entire job can be traced back to posting fake content or starting fake drama for their followers and the media to mindlessly consume and talk about. If you are really successful, you can even land endorsement deals and sponsorships just from doing stupid Tik Tok dances or posting half naked pictures on Instagram. If only life could be like living an actual movie.

Do you remember the Fyre Festival back in 2017? You know, the music festival that was built entirely on social media hype by these "influencers" such as Bella Hadid and Kendall Jenner, featured big name musical artists, and was supposed to take place on a private island near the Bahamas? The festival that turned out to be a massive fraud since nothing was setup and all the attendees were robbed of thousands of dollars that they spent on what was supposed to be an all inclusive experience? I remember hearing about it during sophomore year at college and just reading about the shitshow that ensued was enough to make me laugh my ass off. But there is a deeper psychological factor that made this festival so successful. Netflix and Hulu both made really insightful documentaries that explored the marketing and hype surrounding this event. Essentially it boils down to hyping this festival up as the hottest once in a lifetime experience that millennials just had to experience, which exploits FOMO and makes everyone feel like they need to be a part of this thing in order to really live life to the fullest. 

And I feel like that's what's wrong with Instagram and social media as a whole. It makes people feel insecure about themselves to the point where they have to lie to each other in order to stir up some artificial drama or to put up this illusion that our lives are perfect or eventful. When in reality, we all have moments in our lives that are either uneventful, stressful, or emotional. 

I learned a lot of things after deleting my Instagram. I think the biggest one for me is to not live my life through the validation of others. My worth as a person isn't determined by the number of followers I have, or the number of likes I get on my pictures. Another thing I learned is not to compare myself to other people. We all have our fair share of struggles and emotions, that are never shared on the internet. Nobody rarely ever posts their failures or day to day activities, and that is something I have come to realize that your life is ultimately determined by what you achieve, and not how you compare to others.