Social Media; the Good, the Bad & the Ugly

From an outside perspective, social media is such an amazing tool that allows one to stay connected with those they do not get to see everyday and also meet new people through old friends. Nothing about that sounds bad; truly the idea of social media is a great one, but a problem arises when people do not use it for the reasons previously stated.

For a while social media was something that weighed me down and frankly made me sad. I would scroll through my Instagram feed and see people with picture perfect lives, and I would be jealous because that was nowhere near how I lived my life. I wasn't constantly out with friends, and I certainly did not have that many friends. I did not have a boyfriend, so seeing all these cute couples posts made me feel like I was missing out. I compared and compared and compared myself to others to the point in which I could see why I didn't have many friends; I wasn't picture perfect like these other people.

And it wasn't just the lives of others but their looks that killed me. I would compare myself to people posting these tan, swimsuit-bod, vacation pics and knew that I looked nothing like them. My stomach wasn't as flat, my thighs had no gap, and my hair would have certainly been a mess in that humidity. Instagram was no longer a place to catch up on each others lives but instead a place to tear and compare.

The real truth was that these people who were posting these pictures probably had insecurities of their own; they just didn't show them. Truly they were no better than me, it just felt like it because no one posts what they are honestly feeling, and if they did, you'd probably consider that weird. If I posted a picture of myself crying and said "feeling really sad today because I binge-ate while watching Netflix and now I'm feeling fat" you would probably be very weirded out by me. This is because Instagram was not set up to be a place of complete honesty but only to see the best side of me. And I myself fall into that trap. If someone who didn't know me saw my Instagram, they would have thought I totally had my life together.

We each need to check ourselves and evaluate why we get on social media and why we post what we post. Do we post cute vacation pics just to receive nice comments that we think in some way will validate our lives? If so, that's when you know it's time to take a step back, and there is nothing wrong with that. Take some time away from what is pulling you into the trap of comparison, and spend some time finding security and validation in the only being whose opinion truly matters: God's. Once you come to terms with the fact that our savior died so that you could live, maybe you'll realize how much you are worth, not to the world, but to the creator of the world. Anything you might consider an imperfection is perfect in God's eyes because he created you, and God is perfect and never makes mistakes. Nothing about you is a mistake, it is all beautiful.