Teenage Veracity

social media

Everyone is using social media. I did too. It's the perfect companion to kill and waste time. And I loved wasting time. I mean, I still love wasting time.

I used to depend on social media for my life because, you know what? It was the only place where I felt appreciated. It was the only place I could brag about the goodness of my life, even when it was actually a complete mess. It's easier to deceive them because they cannot see right through the screen.

I feel good about the number of reactions I received. I feel good about the number of good comments I read. I feel really good, and it made me want to update them on everything that happened to me, even though it's complete nonsense and has nothing to do with them. 

Their positive response made me feel that my life has something to do with them, so I just continue to feed them. It was a stupid thing to do, but I just loved the attention I was getting from them.

Until it just happened. I remember having a very wide smile on my face and posting it online. I don't know. I just want to let people think that I look happy because people on screen want to take the pill of happiness from other people to feel that life is still worth living. But as I put my phone down, my smile went down too. 

I decided to get out of it as soon as possible. If social media is a place where it feels like I need to constantly put on clothes that satisfy them but don't suit me, then I need to take it off.

Social media is the best place to dwell on nonsensical matters. We are mostly aware that everything that we see on our screens is impossible, pathetic, and worthless, but we still smile about it and get addicted to it.

Social media is also a great weapon to shut people down. We see a lot of people posting their straight A's, ideal relationships, almost perfect bodies, and productive lives, and you who are just lying down in your bed with the screen on your face feel like you are worthless because you don't have what they have and you don't do what they do. Your life is unlike theirs, so it means that your life is a waste.

Social media has the power to alter your life. You can fake the truth and deceive people with it. It's easy to post about your happiness as if you really are, and people will believe you as long as you have a smile plastered on your face. You can also post the thing that happened a month ago just to tell the world that it happened today. I've done it before, and I'm fooling myself even more.

Social media is the perfect virtual diary to show off. People tell people everything about their lives. They want us to care. They can't even eat peacefully without taking a picture of it and sharing it. But actually, we don't really need to know everything that is going on in their lives, especially if they only do it to show off. They are showing us that they've been in that place, that they achieved this, and that they're with their boyfriends and girlfriends, just to spark a little jealousy and show us they are living their best lives.

We want to make them feel bad about themselves and their lives. We want to show them we are better because we are not, and we want to hear them say we are the lucky ones.

Why are we giving our time to gibberish matters? Why do we deliberately diminish the worth of other people in our lives? Why are we showing people the fake sides of our lives? Why are we fond of updating excessively?

Our focus changed massively. We are trying to seek validation from the online world, and we are now refusing to venture into the depths of reality. Social media is taking everything authentic away, and we even have the audacity to complain about how we are fading from being real.

It's sad to be surrounded by people who depend on whatever is on their screens for happiness. I want to reach them, but I can only do it with my phone. I am more than my phone. We are more than that.

I don't want us to fade from reality, and I don't want the younger generation to be confused about what reality is. It's scary to observe that we are becoming digital slaves. We can't even put it down.

It's almost a hundred percent a lie, everything we saw on social media. I hate how people are defined by the lives of other people. I hate how fame can control a lot of space in our minds. I hate people who are slowly settling into living in digital homes. If that's the case, what's the purpose of breathing here?

I'm furious because I'm scared. Whatever happens inside our screens takes us away from the opportunity to experience and appreciate authenticity. What will happen if all people fall into the trap of fakeness? How can we ever determine a genuine connection if we only read the meaning of it?

I'm getting sad because I'm the only one whose head is not looking down. I keep glancing and making attempts to get their attention, but their attention is pouring down below. Hours went by, and they are still scrolling down. The time that should have been spent on meaning just becomes meaningless. They forgot how to look straight into other people's eyes. They forgot what being present feels like.

I want a real connection, and so do you. I want to be with genuine people, and so do you. I believe we are more than we posted. I don't want us to act forever just to hide our mess. People are slowly ironing out the imperfections, even though we are not perfect to begin with and will never be.

We lost the ability to really appreciate people without them showing us shiny things. We lost the ability to see the goodness of life because we saw that others had it more. We forgot that we walk on different routes. We lost the ability to be real because we were corrupted by the fakeness that we saw on every platform. We lost the ability to stay calm and let social media become our court. We lost the ability to appreciate little things since there are no numbers to indicate their worth. We forgot the ability to dive into the real definition of goodness that life constantly offers.

I don't have the license to brainwash you to be your authentic self and uninstall your digital self. But I just want to say that please don't fall into the trap beyond your screen.