We all know the pressure that social media has on pretty much everyone these days—especially women. There is always the pressure to have the perfect body, the perfect boyfriend, and the perfect life and post it all on social media to show the world. Personally, I have felt these pressures, and scrolling through my Instagram feed, I’ve always felt like I needed to try harder because everyone else was putting on the same show of their life as me.
Starting college has been a whirlwind, and I’ve learned that everyone’s adjustment period is different, mine being slower. With that, seeing all of my peers from high school posting pictures of their super-duper, fun, new college life made me feel like I was missing out—big time. I felt like my college life was a disappointment. It came to a point where I cared way too much and that’s when my mom suggested I take a break from social media—Instagram specifically.
I was reluctant at first, but I decided to give it a try. The first few days were difficult because I felt like I was still missing out. I yearned to scroll through my feed to see what everyone was up to. I wanted to see the latest posts from my favorite celebrities and like every single picture. I felt out of the loop. Then, I started to forget about Instagram and I stopped worrying about all of the posts I was missing. I felt sort of free. I realized that keeping up with Instagram was literally a task that had become part of my daily life. It wasn’t something that I necessarily enjoyed doing, it had come to feel like something I had to do.
Taking a break from Instagram made me spend less time on my phone and more time realizing all the great things I have in my life. I was blinded by this picture of a perfect life and I realized that no one’s life is perfect—even if it seems that way on Instagram. I’m still on a break with Instagram and I’m positive we’ll reunite sometime in the future, but in the meantime, I’m going to enjoy this feeling of freedom. And, hopefully, when I make my return to Instagram that I have a different perspective.
My challenge to everyone who finds themselves a little too concerned about social media and have major FOMO is to try to give it up for a while. I challenge you to take control of your own life and not let social media control it for you. You might just realize you’re living a wonderful life.