If you'd classify yourself as a social media junkie, or are in anyway involved in the online vegan scene, odds are you're familiar with the now infamous Essena O'Neil breakdown. For those of you who have no clue what I'm referring to, let me fill you in. Essena, 19, was a social media personality, originally praised for her looks and style, who quickly become a poster child for teen aged vegans around the world. With an incredibly successful instagram page (like well over half a million), and a YouTube channel that grew rapidly, Essena was sitting on top of the social media-sphere, phone in one hand, ceptor in the other. However this summer it seems she came to a sudden revelation, deleting most of her content across her platforms, and beginning to speak out against the networks that had originally given her her name. She would later post a video, explaining why she 'quit social media' (on social media), and how no one using the websites were happy or in anyway truthful. If you ask me, Essena joined social media for the validation in numbers; got it, the money; got it and the voice; got it. But when she had eventually reached the pinnacle in her career, she was left bored and unfulfilled. This clearly lead to a lot of deeper issues as many of us saw unfold, but no matter your take on the turn of events, you can't argue that no good came from it. By so blatantly putting such a large part of our world's on blast, Essena forced all of her followers to step away from their screens and reevaluate their online presence. Teens looking to start their own YouTube channels were then forced to reflect and ask themselves why they had a desire to share so much of their lives with complete strangers. Essena would argue that we so willingly divulge information on our lives online, because the majority of it, is premeditated and staged. No one is their genuine self online. And I would have to agree with her to some extent.
When I'm posting a picture of my haul of the day, I'm not slapping the clothes down on my bed and taking the photo. I'll grab a throw so that no one can see my undoubtedly embarrassing neon duvet, and making sure only that nicest details of my room are in the background. And that's because we all like to seem put together. Social media has made us all subconscious romantics, striving to create perfect moments as oppose to living them. However I would have to disagree with her points on how it changes our values. Although social media is very much a highlight reel of our lives, it is just as much a platform on which we can display what matters to us the most. My photos and travels are aspects of my life that effect me greatly, just as another's family and faith may impact them in the same way. To say that one person is more shallow than another, based on what you see as profound, is entirely nonsensical. We all have our own fog, clouding our vision, however most people aren't being paid for product placement or affiliate codes, we post what we do because we want to, not out of obligation. That is where I think Essena lost her way as a blogger.
None the less, in the aftermath of such a big shock -being a huge fan of her myself- I still find myself thinking back to the points she made. I guess as someone who views social media in such a positive light, I'm striving to prove the skeptics -Essena and others- wrong. I will never do anything for shock or like value, and I will never put my life on hold for an app or program. To me, social media is very much a community through which we can not only connect and display, but share and shed light on topics otherwise inaccessible. It stretches so far beyond the 'fit tea's and #WomenCrushWednesdays. Through the amazing technological advancements of the last decade, we have been given digital keys to a world of knowing and possibilities. So share content that makes you happy, and things you want others to see. Make people smile and think and laugh and cry with every post. Rattle cages and push buttons, because we have been given the chance. Don't buy into the social media hoax.
- 2:49 PM
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