What impact does using social media for validation have on our mental health?
The Seattle-born Calvin Klein model Ebonee Davis asks what effect living our lives for the approval of others will ultimately have on our self worth and individual identity. By carefully curating these homogenous online personas, we risk losing what we truly have - our selves.
At a party last week I was approached by a young man with a fairly large social media following - I'm talking hundred of thousands of followers - who asked for a photo with me. Although I thought it was a bit strange of him to ask for a photo without introducing himself first, I agreed. Moments after taking the photo, I watched him scurry away to post it. In that moment, I realised just how easy it is to create the illusion of friendship through social media.
The rise of social media has also given way to the pervasive issue of cyber-bullying. Social media has granted its users the power to anonymously attack and criticise one another ruthlessly and without repercussion. Sure, features like the"block" button do exist, but it cannot assuage the irreparable psychological damage many are left with following a cyber bully attack. It is especially visible on celebrity profiles.
Why do we demand perfection from celebrities and why do we demand it from one another? We are repressing and condensing our lives into tiny perfectly packaged boxes based on the notion that we are not good enough as we are. We live in an imperfect world yet we feel as though we have to be perfect on social media.
By perpetuating the false lives we share with the world through carefully curated photos, we have created an alternate reality where only the most ideal and palatable versions of ourselves can exist. For many, escaping this world has become an impossibility. How well we curate ourselves on this virtual platform has built itself into the way we date, who we befriend, who we hire for jobs, and it's changed how we see others and how we see ourselves.
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