I am lucky in the fact that social media did not really evolve until my later high school years. Social media and technology did not and still does not come super easy to me. I would plan out my posts weeks in advance and if you were someone that liked to receive a text back right away, I was your worst enemy - and still am. This is not because I am ignoring you. Seriously! It is because I have this secret talent of misplacing my phone for periods of up to 24 hours. Because I am not particularly attached to it, I forget to go looking for it. Majority of the time I find it sitting in my car cup holder the next day. I actively try to keep track of it, but honestly, I think it has legs.
Disputes and drama definitely did happen while I was in high school but I was never very aware of them. The drama I was aware of in no way compares to the drama teenagers now have to endure. There are individuals who use social media as a positive platform and their bright light does not go unappreciated. However, many social media posts invoke negative or argumentative responses.
I always see these things called TBH pop up on my younger sisters feed. TBH stands for To Be Honest. From what I have gathered, followers are supposed to like a TBH post and the TBH poster will send a private message to the individual who "liked" it giving their honest opinion of them. I am pretty sure these are typically pretty innocent, but I have witnessed some ruthless opinions of young girls. It ultimately tears down their growing self-esteem. But what do you expect when you voluntarily tell someone to give their honest opinion of you? Adolescents rely so much on social media for self-assurance. I do not believe this is going to change, it is the evolution of social media. But I think it is important we begin to think twice about what we post and how they may affect you and your followers.
Why do people put themselves in a position to be torn down via social media. It is interesting because, at my age, I am able to witness teenagers interactions on social media as well as adult interactions. You wouldn't believe how alarmingly similar they are!
In this day and age, people post every detail about their life, their ex's life, their ex's ex's life, and I think you get the picture. What I have gathered from posts laying all details of one's life out, I see a pattern of hurt and hardship. Putting such intimate details all over social media for all to judge puts yourself in an extremely vulnerable position. Not only are you trying to heal personal wounds, you are opening yourself up to negative comments. And let's be honest, you can have 100 encouraging comments, but you will remember that one negative response forever.
Don't put yourself in that position. Let's change the way we use social media as an outlet. Write your tell-all post in a private journal. Get it out and find contentment and healing on a personal level. Outside encouragement is nothing but a temporary fix. Replace your initial post with an encouraging quote - one that you would love to see when scrolling through social media. Become the person everyone looks to for daily encouragement rather than the one everyone tries to scroll past.
Before you post think about these things:
1. How does your post make you feel?
2. Will you regret posting it down the road?
3. Are you exerting kindness and positivity?
Take these answers into account and continue to be a shining light.