What is the first image that comes up when you google your name? Is it a grainy picture at your seven-year-old soccer game that your dad posted on Facebook almost ten years ago? Or is it some old Instagram profile picture you had in eighth grade? Are there even pictures of you, or just randos and strangers who happen to have the same name? Why does this even matter?
The internet is forever, no matter where you post or who posts it. The youngest generations are growing up in an era where the entire world and its wealth of information is just a small click away. In fourth grade, I got my first phone. What was once my father’s old and discard iPhone four became my prize possession. For the first year, I only used my phone for its basic feature; calling, texting, and the occasional game. However, the summer before sixth grade I was allowed to join social media. My eleven-year-old self was ecstatic to try out fun filters and share the pictures on my own Instagram and Snapchat accounts. Looking back, I wished I held off using social media for just a little longer.
Social media can effects how a person is developed and it has affected how I have developed. When I first started using social media, specifically Instagram, the main focus for me was to communicate with others. I originally would share random photos of myself doing cool things and screenshots of funny memes on Instagram, as that was the app's original purpose. Instagram did a rebranding and the overall focus of the app shifted from being a picture-sharing app into an entertainment platform where people can become famous. This shift led to a rise in Instagram influences who would use words such as “instafamous” or “instabaddie”.
As a result of an influx of influencers on Instagram, I changed the way I would post. Instead of posting random selfies with cute heart and flower crowns filters posting on Instagram became a production. For some time, I would prepare to take Instagram pictures and it would be a whole ordeal, just for one picture and a few likes. But, as times are now changing again and I have more pressing matters to attain Instagram has become a place where I just post “aesthetic” photo dumps less frequently.
I truly believe social media is the most harmful to those who have been exposed to it in the essential years of brain development. At a very young age, I and many other girls were exposed to many harmful things on social media, specifically Instagram. Photoshopped images of women’s bodies gave us all the wrong impression of how girls are supposed to look. All humans have an innate desire to compare themselves to others and combined with an unconfident preteen it is not surprising that the suicide rate and low self-esteem are rising among the younger generations, my generation.
Social media is not all bad. I use Facebook to keep in touch with my grandma, aunts, and uncles; LinkedIn to post my academic and career accomplishments; Twitter to keep up to date on celebrity news; and Instagram to share what I am doing. It is important to express caution and set boundaries while using any social media app. There is a lot of grime on social media but it can also be an efficient way to communicate with others.
