Confessions of an Instagram Addict

I, too, have been on the same boat with thousands of other Instagram addicts, who had to perfect every single picture from the lighting to the angle, from the size of my head to the proportion of my body. I created this so-called perfect image online. I searched for photoshop tools that I can use to perfect my photos even further. I searched for trends, and hoped to gain more followers by following them. I was obsessed with numbers, and numbers of followers in particular. I was obsessed with the number of likes I receive from each photo. I was obsessed with Instagram.

Pathetic isn't it? Neglecting real life friends and obsessing with strangers on social media. Unfortunately, this is the society that we live in. People care more about their image on cyberspace than their image in real life, in the cases I witnessed, at least. People search for filters, angles, clothes, photoshop tools, and even plastic surgery that make them look just a little more attractive than before.  (Or at least that's what they/we think). How superficial? How realistic? Why?

Why are people so obsessed with their image online? Because they are not the only ones. They know that others are equally obsessed with their own, and other people's image online. It is how people judge each other. It is how people stalk each other. It is how people compete, secretly, for most cases.

Have you heard of the theory that the more stay you stay on Facebook the less happy you become? It's true, at least for me it is. I tried to stay away from Facebook for a while, not looking at those perfecting lives or should I say lies, and I felt better about myself. It is so difficult to not compare, if you see bits and pieces of everyone's lives right there for you to see and judge. I see two types of people on Facebook. The ones that make their lives uber exciting and the ones that complain about everything. Ironically, people usually get pleasure from reading the tragedies, and get jealous from reading the exciting, perfect adventures that others get to experience.

What have social media turned us into? More correctly, what have we turned our selves into? In the past, people compare, but they do it less frequently due to the lack of access to others' lives. Now, we have all the freedom to access other people's lives without letting them know. All of us become stalkers because there are no apparent consequences. But, there are! We become vulnerable, depressed, self-effacing from just reading a clingy couple or loving family or ambitious college student's posts. We look back to our selves and feel that we are not enough.

Well guess what. You are not enough!

If you're busy enough, you will be able to stay off Facebook. You will be able to focus on your own life. You will be able to improve nothing but yourself, and not your stalking skills. Focus on yourself!

Your time is limited. If you were to make an investment, with time, make it on yourself first.