Joy, sadness, rage. The internet has brought us many things, from the wonders of social media, to the terrifying reality of social media. We truly live in the future. I personally find myself at odds with the internet. I do not buy into the wondrous world of Instagram or the hashtags and hateful comments of X .(Formally known as twitter.) Whilst I use social media, I do not find myself wishing to share every moment of my life with the world. Why should I have to show every single part of myself to the world? Does anyone actually care about if I enjoy Candy Crush or not? Why do I have to update my profile picture to make sure relatives know I am not dead yet?
Our generation, being millennial’s and gen z, have grown up with the internet. We were around during the early days. When YouTube was like the wild west for content and Twitter was exactly the same. We experienced a much more rough and ready version of the internet that those who came after us. In the present day its all perfectly PC on YouTube (apart from when its not.) Twitter is now a much worse place. (Thanks Elon) If you look back on the Internet, you can see that shift occur. Social media became more sanitized with everyone having picture perfect lives. YouTube now feels like a corporate content machine; with anyone who dares to deviate from the pages upon pages of guidelines being taken outback and shot in the head.
We live in the ages of false perfection. Were everything we release to the world is the good side and only the good side. We no longer have MySpace pages full of awfully taken pictures that ruin your dating chances. We don’t have people being themselves, its all either false perfection or whatever the hell Kanye is doing. Spoilers, its bad, like really bad. We no longer have music on our profiles. Which I know does not sound like a big deal, but it is. I need to know if someone likes Coldplay before I add them on Facebook. That way I can block them and never interact with them again. I also need to know if they enjoy Green Day so I can be their best friend forever, but I digress.
The internet, and more importantly social media has changed us, for the worst. Did you know that up to 95% of young people aged 13 to 17 use social media1. That’s almost everyone. Furthermore, did you know that one third of teenagers feel ashamed of their bodies due to social media2? Ashamed. What on earth?! Young people should not have to be ashamed of their bodies, they should be out with their mates, or hanging round the local HMV. They should not have to worry about what strangers online think of their appearance.
The idea that we have created a society that not only allows for this, but encourages this scares me to no end. We should be uplifting the young, giving them everything they could need to succeed. Not telling them they are too fat, or look wrong. The point I am trying to get to is simple. Talk to each other. About these things. The internet can be a really awful place. Talking helps. A problem shared is a problem halved. If you are a young person who is struggling, there’s a link to Child Line below. You aren’t alone.
Manic Writer 