You know that feeling you get after you watch a movie in theaters? The feeling, as if you've lived through the characters' experience, that anything is possible, and this is a source of infinite motivation. Well, when I first saw this pitch, that's the feeling it gave me, and what I want to kindle for others.
To remind the youth of today that there’s so much more to life than aesthetic Pinterest boards, record buttons, and whatever idea social media has conjured up about life. You aren’t living 24/7 with millions, not even hundreds of thousands of viewers watching. This is your life, and you should start discovering what embracing it looks, sounds, and feels like without an audience.
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Get notified of top trending articles like this one every week! (we won't spam you)Acknowledging The Addiction
Image Credit: Florian Schmetz from Unsplash
Anyone can become addicted to anything.
There is the substance addiction, the one people are most familiar with and probably have a negative image of, along with a few misunderstood facts about it. However, there are also behavioral addictions, the addictions that don’t have a negative image attached to them, making them harder to detect.
So, yes, even being on Pinterest 24/7 can be an addiction, no matter how glamorous it may seem. In fact, the more glorified we make certain addictions, such as shopping, the harder we try to find solutions against them.
Being on any app–TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, or Pinterest–for more than two hours a day can become a real addiction. Not just a word thrown around, but something that actually alters your brain and should be as serious as any substance addiction.
It is one thing to be consumed by the content presented on each of these platforms and another thing to be dependent on likes, trends, aesthetics, and any sort of validation a random stranger on the internet can throw at you.
It feels good now, of course, it does, and everything from an adolescent's social life to an adult's work life is online now. So that makes it all the more reason why many of us realize the addiction but don’t care enough to fight against it.
It is weird to think that someone can be addicted to an app on their devices, to be addicted to something that doesn’t enter your body. Yet, people are strangely addicted to these forms of aesthetics that surround all of our social media feeds.
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The Strong Force of Peer Pressure
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If you aren’t aesthetic, you are either seen as cringe or not cool enough. Aesthetics push people into categories and make it easy for others to judge. The peer pressure of making sure your blowout is always perfect and your clothes are chic enough to get people asking where you get them from.
It’s the need to look like a Pinterest board 24/7. Constantly wanting everything you touch to look like it came out of vogue or a 2000s movie. Before you realize it, it's not your peers pressuring you but yourself to fit into this ideal.
The Normalization of Constant Performance
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When it’s a fixation, addiction, or obsession, society has no problem normalizing it. Especially if it fuels their self-esteem and ego. It makes glorifying it simple because viewers enjoy watching things that aren’t their reality. It gives us a break from the messy and chaotic real world.
It seems once you are in this spotlight and this dopamine rush of unrealistic standards, it’s hard not to think the camera isn’t on 24/7 or someone isn’t watching every move you make. That life is supposed to be mess-free.
The issue with constant performance is the lack of authenticity and prioritizing what can be seen by others. Consumerism and trends amplify this because they make viewers believe that this life can be bought.
Do you want to keep buying into your life until you feel satisfied?
The Difference Between Then and Now
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TikTokers believe 2016 is back. The aesthetic and chill vibes. Yet, they’ve said the same thing about various other eras as well. TikTok has a way of making users feel nostalgic about carefree times; in return, they try to bring those same vibes back.
However, it will never give you the same feeling it once did; it will never fill this hole nostalgia creates. Because you are meant to reminisce about the good old days. That does not mean fixating on it because then you miss out on the present. And replicating it is not real nor authentic, especially with the way social media has changed since then.
Which is why I believe people try even harder to go back because there was this comfort back then that is not in the present time. Back then, once you closed the app, it was easier to separate your identity and life from your feed. Now, you can barely make that distinction.
Looking Within: How To Be In The Present and Be You
Image Credit: Михаил Секацкий from Unsplash
As a whole, we need to realize that not everything should or has to be recorded. Not everything has to be content. Not everything has to be perfectly curated to be content.
Most importantly, at the end of the day, you were not given life on this earth to be addicted to your device. You have to ask yourself what you want from life. Once you take the time to do that reflection, you can set proper boundaries.
And speaking of boundaries, there needs to be some for creators who love to record everything in a public setting! For instance, I was standing in a long line for this sushi place, and this lady came off the line and just started recording. I literally turned my head so fast because I did not want to be in the shot. But no one cares whether or not people want to be in their videos, and they definitely don't care enough to blur them out.
Whether you are a creator or user, it’s important to step back from all the glamorized things. Life can fluctuate between beauty and chaos. It’s through those phases that make me appreciate the little things even more.
