I'm Quitting Social Media

Think back to the day you first created your Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and Snapchat accounts.

Remember the feeling of getting your very first friend request? Remember how you felt when you finally reached 100 followers on Instagram, or when you got seven retweets and suddenly felt like Kanye? Do you remember getting a Snapchat from your crush and your stomach immediately filled with butterflies as you waited an appropriate amount of time to finally open the snap and died a little on the inside when you saw that adorable selfie?

Once these innocent accounts were just for fun, but now - as the weeks have gone on; as the selfies have been posted; as you waited to see just how many likes your photo would receive - without even realising, these accounts have become a part of your daily routine. Now you’re addicted and you don’t even know it.

What happens when one day you learn your happiness is dependent on your social media profiles? How did you get like this? It hit me when I realised my morning ritual involved reaching over to my side table and grabbing my phone to check if I had missed anything over night, or really just checking what I missed four hours ago when I finally put my phone down so I could sleep. No matter how tired I was, I somehow managed to keep my eyes open just enough to see past the blinding light of my phone, unable to put the phone down because I might miss something.

Twitter is great; I have a large amount of followers and that’s success, isn’t it? Instagram’s fine, selfies never hurt anybody. Snapchat’s hilarious at times; who doesn’t love seeing how many chins their face can produce? Then there’s Facebook, the king of social media; the one place that can make or break you. It’s a place where you are judged by the amount of likes on your photos, but who really cares about likes?

Well, we say we don’t care, but one bad day on any of our social media accounts and that’s when reality sinks in. It’s like your whole life is about to fall apart. Something goes wrong and all of a sudden you’re in a bad mood, hiding away in your room, binge eating, lashing out at family and all because you only got 12 likes or because this random person called you out on Twitter. It’s in that moment when I knew that something wasn’t right; that I was depending on social media to feel wanted. I was essentially relying on strangers to make me feel okay. That is not alright.

It was only when I finished high school and saw another side to life and discovered that there really was so much more than these internet profiles of myself. Instead of constantly comparing myself to others on the internet and how ‘perfect’ they are I now dedicate myself to being genuinely happy. I wake up every day ready for a new adventure, excited at what life may throw at me, without the pressure of having to post a photo about what I’m doing and what people are going to think of me. That’s why I’m swearing off social media. It’s not easy; just like any other addiction, there is temptation. However, happiness to me is involving myself in a place where my insecurities won’t worry me and if that mean's leaving social media behind I am more than happy to log out and login to real happiness.

Congratulations to Estelle for winning this writing challenge. Estelle wins a $50 Westfield gift card. For your chance to win, check out our latest writing challenges in our Comps section. Also, be sure to follow this guide on how to win the writing challenge!