Something I believe social media takes advantage of is the ability to drastically affect the way that we perceive ourselves. It has unnaturally been given the power to change one’s self-worth based on numbers, and it is a power that we as a community need to take back. About four years ago I witnessed the true harm that social media can cause for young people. My cousin is the same age as me, lives in California, and has always been an extremely beautiful girl. Ever since we were old enough to have social media she was always posting amazing photos and was consistently gaining a lot of followers. As a young teen, I definitely found myself jealous of her at points. She had so many followers, got tons of likes, and every comment section was flooded with compliments. From the outside, everything about her seemed perfect and I am sure a lot of other girls were jealous of her as well. One morning I woke up to a group text from my aunt and uncle, telling my whole family that my cousin would be gone for two years. Little did I know, she had gotten so caught up in her online presence that she became addicted to the dopamine hit of people liking her posts and leaving compliments in the comments. Her entire perception of herself was based upon how many likes and comments she was getting and ended up having major issues with depression, anxiety, eating disorders, self-worth, self-confidence, and addiction to social media. Two men showed up at her house in the middle of the night, took her out of bed, and she was on her way with no idea where she was going or what was ahead. She had been sent away to wilderness therapy in Utah where she would be living in a tent for two years hiking, with no technology, mirrors, showers, or connection to anyone other than those she was with. The entire experience was extremely traumatizing and without the invention of a like button, it likely would have never happened.
One thing that I think could help prevent these things from happening in the future would be to eliminate all numbers from social media. The whole premise of social media is to keep up with friends, family, and celebrities. With that being said, I don’t see how numbers have anything to do with keeping up with the people you care about. Numbers automatically make it so things can be so easily compared. Numbers take away the objectivity of social media and create a hierarchy of what or who is better than another. Without numbers, there is nothing to derive value from, and no way to place yourself above or below someone else whereas right now it is just a numbers game where 99% of us lose.
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