The Deception of Instagram

First of all, Hello! This is my first post, and well, seeing as I came across Vocal via Instagram, I found it fitting that my first post was about that very subject.

I'm a young(ish) female, and like many millions of the human population, I heavily invest my time in social media, pretty much since its inception. However, as I'm getting older, I'm starting to see the flaws that these tools can bring.

I've always been a confident girl, iIm happy with my body (mainly), I've never struggled with friends, or communicating with people, nor have I ever struggled with relationships or attracting the opposite sex. However, I can't help but notice, social media, mainly Instagram, is definitely starting to look more like a profile of clones, rather that an expression of individuality.

It's become a playground of beautiful girls EVERYWHERE! Big booties, perfectly toned bodies, long luscious locks, that glimmering Hollywood smile, filler induced duck pouts, the perfect sized boobs and I mean that's just one piece of it. There's also the egocentric, 'Look at my Rolex' and my 'Merc' and all my fancy designer things, the 'I lived the perfect life' profile. And hey, some of you may dam well be perfectly blessed in all these areas, and to some, my profile may even come across in that way. But my main focus of this story is that what you see in these profiles, it's likely to be pretty far from reality, but the saddest part about it all is the hype, breeds the hype! Like I mentioned a few lines above, I've always been a confident girl, and since time has gone on I've found myself trying to adapt my image and my posts to make myself seem like I fit the Instamold! Editing pictures to look more appealing, trying to take sexier or cooler pics for the likes, even taking post down because they didn't get enough likes in the minutes that I had posted it, as that somehow made me less 'cool,' I fell prisoner to it along with watching all my friends be the same.

It may seem and mean to be innocent, but sometimes I feel like in this day and age that the reality of social media is so much more sinister than it was ever intended to be. For those of you have fallen into this hundreds of likes and followers somehow makes me more important trap, then stop, think and listen right here! People need to realise that these posts or ideas of perfection that are created by these sites are not REALITY! Especially the younger female population, please don't compare yourself to these girls that you see on here and somehow think you are lesser because you don't have the same figure, or looks or whatever popular post you may see. Don't think you need to adapt yourself or your looks just to get more attention, because somehow that is what the 'trend' is.

Social media has created a mindset that this is the 'norm,' well it's not and something to always keep in mind, beauty is in the eye of the beholder! So don't go about getting yourself down thinking you're not good enough, or your body isn't normal, or you're not as popular or thinking that these people who seem 'perfect' don't have troubles in their own lives because I bet my bottom dollar that most of them do!

Be happy, be healthy and be proud of who you are and what you bring to the table, no matter your size, bank balance, your race or your religion, your looks or your likes or followers!

JS x