Validated, Vindicated, Verified!!!

Has that ever happen to you where you post something on social media and you hover over your phone, waiting to see who has liked, reacted, or commented on your post? And you keep checking your phone every two minutes? If yes, well welcome to the digital era, my dear friends. "Validated, Vindicated, Verified" is today's generation's motto. This is what we live for! Give me those likes, bathe me in those follow requests and fill me with those reactions. Yeah...

The problem with today's generation is we are all, including myself, addicted to social media. We cannot help but post every little detail of our life. Why put our phone down and enjoy the moment when we can stream it live for everyone to see!? Our online image is more important to us. Forget about looking real and showing your true self to the world! Edits is becoming the new partner for everyone! Filters give people the chance to look like they have always wanted....or thought they wanted. Now we take that well-lit, calculated selfie, fill it with those edits and filters and write "#nofilter", "#unexpected", and "#realme"!

The pressure we all have to be socially accepted, to be seen as beautiful, sexy, to be the next Instagram model, these reasons are driving us a little cray-cray. Why use our physical beauty to be accepted? What will happen once everything becomes soggy and grey? Yep, that's exactly what will happen... And celebrities do not help the cause. We look at our dolled-up idols and try to be like them, pose like them, and be them. But what about the whole "natural beauty"and "real me" stuff?

We drown ourselves in the validation world due to our low self-esteem and wanting to be perfect, but perfection is a myth. No one is perfect. Seeking that online validation is becoming a dangerous addiction. We don't feel at ease until people like our posts, share them or write positive comments on them. The pressure to look digitally beautiful has never been higher than today.

If we did not receive enough likes or we are not deemed as "famous" online, we might fall into depression. And the dark consequences are sickness, sadness, and rebellion. And worst even, we might want to push the envelope further to obtain those damn likes. Part of this problem also has to do with us always comparing ourselves to one another. If your friend has a lot of followers and friends, we kind of want to be like them and start going down this dark rabbit hole, not to Wonderland, but to Depressland.

It is quite hard to switch out of this habit once you are in it. It is like an addiction and only time and patience will help. But start taking some time outside the digital world. See all the real, natural beauty around you. Have some alone time, be in touch with your inner self and have face-to-face conversations with your friends and family. The world is a beautiful place if we take time to actually look at it.