The SOVA Project is happy to feature this blog post written by one in our team of fantastic SOVA Ambassadors—these are young people who help create meaningful blog posts from adolescents’ perspectives. We hope you can use their post to start a conversation with your adolescent.
Today, social media is everything. There are who knows how many apps that teenagers check in a day. We want to know who is doing what, what people are liking, what your friend from home is thinking, what your family is doing, who your crush is liking on Instagram. It’s an obsession. It’s an obsession we all have and we can all admit…yet, nobody does anything about it. I wonder if it is even possible for people to cease the obsession. To cease the need and desire to reply to all the Snapchats or the like all the pictures on Instagram.
I feel guilty a lot of times for spending hours on social media for almost no reason at all, but time gets away from me. I believe that it is just so engrained in our society and culture today that most people cannot stop.
Social media is beneficial, don’t get me wrong. It’s really nice being able to see what my college friends are up to or see my cousins’ pictures. However, people use social media as an outlet. They tweet their feelings instead of talking about them. They won’t “@” someone who they are really trying to speak about.
I have mixed emotions, I guess. I truly like seeing what people do for fun or when they’re on vacation. However, it brings out a negative side of me as I judge myself when seeing pictures of girls who are much smaller than me. It makes me so self-conscience and I become so insecure. I try to remember all the apps there are to edit one’s body or face, and I remind myself that an Instagram picture is more often than not edited. This used to impact my self-esteem a lot, but over time, I learned to be comfortable and confident with myself, despite what I see on social media. Body positivity is so important in our society, especially because of the prominent images of others on Instagram or Facebook. It’s important to love yourself and remember that social media is not everything.
How often is your child on social media? Have you had a discussion about appearances online and your child comparing themselves to others?