The vortex of insecurities, fake personalities and self-made expectations is how I describe social media. It’s like that constant white noise in the background reminding us every time we are about to post something, about how it could be perceived and having to live up to the deep-set unrealistic expectations of people around us.
Social media is what drives us towards questioning ourself first, based on looks, body shape etc. and this fallacy of trying to change into the censorious thoughts of people was my gateway to an epoch of insecurities and feeling uncomfortable in my own skin. You would think that its hard, pandering and trying to showcase yourself on social media as just an expression of exterior expectations and not YOU, but on introspecting I realised that personally for me, its actually harder to express yourself by ignoring the cacophony of the crowd. Social media is an addiction, like any other, affecting us mentally as well as physically, and the reason for this is it’s exalted status because of which we feel the need to even record our daily life as a ‘story’. It’s not like I don’t do all this on social media, but this indomitable virtual world has had its aftereffects on me too, like before enjoying something live, my natural instinct is to put it on my story, and when I now take a picture of myself I feel like I have to accost my ‘flaws’, the new ones which seem to arise with every new picture. So, its true, “The technology that connects us also controls us” (The Social Dilemma).
As this quote goes, “Nothing vast enters the life of mortals without a curse” (The Social Dilemma).