Social Media Creates Horrible Expectations

This is extremely difficult for me to admit, because I'm a social media addict. I use it for work, and I see endless ways to use social media to grow as a person or as a business in front of everyone else.

But there's the problem, in front of everyone else. Being in front of others, especially people you care about with the touch of an app creates tremendous pressure, almost as if your day-to-day life is a performance test.

Anyone born from about 1995 on (give or take a few years) is experiencing something absolutely no one could relate to until now: growing up in a social media era. It comes with so many amazing perks, and for me, the biggest is being able to stay in touch with people you love and/or like.

However, today's social media climate has changed from what it once was. Where it used to be about family, friends, and goofy selfies, it now represents who has "made it." Countless people have followed "influencers" and changed their own social media to follow suit, meaning you only post highlights.

You're not posting about the job you didn't land or the three hours of overtime that made you exhausted; you post about the new car you bought, the concert you went to, etc. It gives off more than ever an impression everyone is happy all the time, which none of us are.

So what does that lead to? Depression. Don't take my word for it, take WebMD's.

Only showing our life's highlight reel makes a lot of people feel insecure about what they've accomplished. One person may say, "Well how does Sandy afford that gorgeous new handbag? Why can't I get things like that?" Perhaps she didn't post the 70-hour workweek it took to attain that luxury item just to impress those followers and proving she "made it."

On top of it, when you don't have those highlights, you think you're not accomplishing what you should be, when in reality you cannot compare your daily life to a highlight reel, even if it's your own. It may not even be someone else's posts; perhaps you posted so much in 2018 with all the memories you made, and in 2019 you didn't, so when you look at the two years in comparison, you think it's a step back instead of moving forward in life. It's a tough cycle that is trapping my generation and the ones to follow.

No, I'm not triggered despite being a millennial, but I truly believe it's something I want my generation to realize: we are all in this together and always remember your self-worth.