I was thinking about writing this blogpost for a long time now and I finally found the courage to put the words out: Instagram has a major influence on me. Daily. We may not admit it, but just like other social media applications it does. In negative and positive ways. I can not imagine how young children grow up differently now compared to my life when I had their age. It is not a surprise that brands or organizations call us ‘influencers’. We are ( now I speak for the other bloggers out there ) a huge part of this social media hype, even if we do not want to. As a blogger you need to be out there and to be honest, I may see my IPhone screen more hours per day then my boyfriend… That sounds almost sad right? Maybe it is, to other people. But even with the impact of social media: I love that this is my part-time job.
This does not mean that Instagram does not have an influence on my life. It can make me feel so many ways: insecure about my looks or style, happy when I get positive feedback, scared that I will not be good enough and if I don’t protect myself I will compare my life to much with others. All the happy, perfect pictures. This is not real. I can hate Instagram for that. It is like a love/hate relationship. You love seeing it, the perfect, the stunning, it personally gives me lots of inspiration. But always keep in mind that it is just a ‘photo’. Lately there are more and more people posting real pictures of themselves. This makes Instagram a bit more accessible.
Instagram now has become a platform full of jealousy, money, contracts, fake accounts and fake people. Believe me, there were moments when I wanted to quick because of this. Everyone now a days calls themselves a ‘blogger’ or ‘online influencer’. Just as simple as that. They post a picture, buy some followers and add: ‘blogger’ to their bio. All this to get the free stuff. Is this really making them happy? I wonder….Lately I have been doing more of things that make me happy and I stopped letting Instagram run my life. I stepped away and focused more on myself. I noticed that I missed writing, so I started again. This, what you are reading now, is a part of what I have written the last couple of weeks. Also, my creative mind grown and I had more space for new ideas. When I post a picture now, I interact with my followers and send them a big thank you for their daily positive support. For me: Instagram became fun again. It is not a competition, it is just a platform for creative minds.
Maybe you remembered: Essena O’Neill? Who had half a million followers on Instagram? She tells about how Instagram controlled her life and why she deleted her account. She tells how she was hungry for social media validation. It had such an impact on her self esteem: she felt insecure. This is also happening with girls with a younger age, they are growing up with Instagram which is for most of them an example how life should be. How you should look. It is not a surprise that more and more girls are developing eating disorders and depressions. This makes one thing clear: more likes, does not mean that you are happier. You do not have to prove anything to anyone.
Now a days I see Instagram as something fun to do. I absolutely love interacting with my following. But I only use it when I feel like I want to. There are so many amazing changes in real life, take them with all your heart and work for this.
XO Esmée
