The sparkling mirror of an ocean, hugging a sandy beach, all just to frame a beautiful girl’s bronze colored face. Captioned, “Pleasure in paradise.”  A typical Instagram square anyone might see while scrolling casually through one’s feed. In a society dominated by social appearance, viral events, and instant communication, many young men and women are feeling the unrealistic pressures of “looking” perfect.

In this age of ubiquitous social media, becoming famous is increasingly easier. No longer does someone need to walk down the red carpet or appear on the cover of a the Inquirer to become known. Hundreds, if not thousands, of average girls and boys have been propelled to popularity due to their YouTube channels and Instagram accounts, which bring in thousands of views and followers daily. These “celebrities” possess an exorbitant amount of influence over impressionable children and young adults; their actions can be held responsible for the ideals that their fans and followers value. In combination with the Hollywood celebrities, these two groups of famous people tend to portray what the general public aspires to be: fit, skinny, clear-skinned, shiny-haired, great fashion sensed. These celebrities’ exorbitant amounts of money provide for their hot-lava-spring-dead-sea facial exfoliators, personal trainers and in-home gyms, the most expensive “healthy” food, and, of course, the wardrobes. What does that mean for the middle-class suburbanites? A constant striving for unattainable perfection, ultimately leading to counterfeit personas. Australian model and Instagram “star” Essena O’Neil made headlines recently due to her decision to “quit” social media. She stated, "I'm quitting Instagram, YouTube, and Tumblr, deleted over 2,000 photos today that served no real purpose other than self-promotion. Without realizing, I've spent the majority of my teenage life addicted to social media, social approval, social status and my physical appearance (Murray).” Essena realized she was portraying a life that was not real to the slightest extent, one that for years her followers, fans, and viewers believed whole heartedly to be one they should attempt to imitate.  If only more celebrities would take notes from Essena and prove to the world that their “perfect” lives are not as faultless as they seem. Another celebrity that recently lifted the “veil” to her very real life was actress Jennifer Lawrence. While making her way up the steps at the Oscars, she fell. In actuality, it was just a little “trip-up,” but a trip-up televised to millions of viewers, including the hundreds of elitists in the audience. True to Jennifer Lawerence form, she handled the fall better than anyone could have planned, turning what could have been a painfully embarrassing moment into a belly-laugh-inducing one. As Cecily Devereux at the University of Alberta writes, “In the hyper-produced and somewhat banal Academy Awards ceremony, it seemed oddly and importantly real” (Devereux). Society very wrongly turns actors into gods and award ceremonies into royal coronations, and healthy perspective is lost. A trip falling up the stairs should not be a reason for public humiliation and shame, as Jennifer Lawrence proved with her perfectly real response. We are only human beings. And humans make mistakes. We always have, and we always will.

Social media supporters argue that Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and other online media sources, provide people an opportunity to share the highlights of their lives with others, which leads to only positive outcomes. “Highlight reels” are appropriate in annual Christmas cards and  neighbor-to-neighbor small talks. Never before has the general public been so immersed in other people's lives, reminders of other people's money, income, vacations, relationships, bodies, wardrobes, and kids. It is a global-scale case of the comparison game. Forget celebrities, now anyone's cousin-twice-removed can post pictures of his or her picture-perfect family and arouse feelings of jealousy in anyone that looks at that feed. Society must not place its focus and worth in its social media appearance, for it is not a true representation of life. Behind that smiling baby is a screaming toddler, behind that prom-posal is a ruined best-friendship, and behind that happy mother’s day post is years of a strained relationship. Who are the only people who see these events going on? The same people who post the pictures. There is one bottom line: social media sets up unrealistic expectations
Not all social media supporters have it wrong though, in many ways social media is truly a marvelous invention, as long as people use it realistically. No one needs a Ph.D. to know looking at a phone all day long is bad, and James Steyer, chief executive officer and founder of Common Sense Media and is responsible for many studies on the effects of technology, has said, “It (the study) just shows you that these kids live in this massive 24/7 digital media technology world, and it's shaping every aspect of their life. They spend far more time with media technology than any other thing in their life. This is the dominant intermediary in their life." It goes without saying that any addiction is inherently bad, but an addiction to technology (social media) is one that often sneaks under the radar of “normalcy”.  Ways to restrict the prolific consequences of social-media-based comparison?  Following the people who are actually of interest, and limiting checking it to every once in awhile. Posting pictures of worth,  but being real in the captions and comments;  cheating the truth can be very easy over the internet. Setting up simple perimeters allows social media to be used to all of its advantages and limits the negative consequences.

While it may look like so many in our culture have it all “together,” whether that be a flawless dress at the Oscars or two girls, two boys and a clean mini-van, no one really does. If social media is a snapshot of one’s life, it needs to be a balanced one, or else the cycle of guilt and feeling of failure will only continue.