I think that social media does make people more fake.
Who's happier, who's richer, who...
Who appears to be the best?
I would say that it's okay to post a version of themselves
that's not 100% real.
Yeah, I post things that I want other people to see.
I do think that social media has an effect
on how people act in real life.
Carries a lot of weight.
I do not believe in filters, Photoshopping, Facetuning,
none of that.
Yes, I think some people tend
to obsess over their social media.
It kind of loses the meaning
of what the intention of social media was--
to, like, connect with other people.
I spend a lot of time being really careful
about what I post on my main account.
Mostly because there's people that I don't know that well
who are going to see it.
My spam account, however, is just a bunch
of really terrible pictures of me.
It's okay to play a little game of pretend,
to, you know, show off, impress your friends.
I'm always thinking, in my mind, like,
for validation from other people.
But at the same time, I know
that none of that is really worth it in the end,
As I've grown as an individual,
I don't see the likes as comments
as anything important.
I feel like they don't help verify me as an individual.
I started counting my likes on my posts,
and I realized soon enough
that that was giving me anxiety.
So I stopped doing that.
But now I've learned to just post them
just for my memories.
When I look back on, like, my social media page,
I kind of relive these memories.
I'm also wondering if people will, like,
enjoy the content just as much as I do.
When it comes to likes, I never really think about that stuff.
I don't think I feel pressured to post certain things.
I feel the opposite.
I feel pressured not to post certain things.
Sometimes I can be pressured to post certain things,
but I try not to, because I like to be my own person.
I don't like to... I don't like for people
to tell me what to do.
I only post things that portray me
as the young African-American scholar that I am.
Even if that's not true all the time,
that's the only thing I'm going to post about.
They have one image of themselves,
and it's not an entire picture of who they are as a person.
How I look and how I'm portrayed in society,
I'm already expected to act a certain way.
So when I put myself out on social media,
I really have to watch how I carry myself.
Social media, with the internet,
you're able to pick and choose
what people see.
And it has its pros and cons.
I'm an athlete,
and I'm going to attend college.
With that in mind, I have to pay attention to scouts.
I have to pay attention to college...
other colleges and teachers and other opportunities
that might be coming my way.
I would say that curating your social media
can be positive.
People can see the very best life
that you're living.
And people can see you being happy all the time.
It kind of gives you the power
to be who you want to be,
and only let people see what you want them to see.
It can turn negative really fast.
If you are constantly displaying yourself as always happy,
it can create a lot of anxiety and depression,
just a lot of stress.
When I post something, I'm checking it very frequently
to see how it's doing compared to my other pictures.
If it's not getting as many likes as my other pictures,
I might delete it.
We only see the greatest moments
or the happiest moments of people,
and we don't know what happens beyond those moments,
or what they've done to get to those moments.
I think if someone's posting,
like, fake, like, Photoshopped photos
or, like, something that's not actually them,
I don't think that's okay.
Models online, like,
sometimes they tend to promote unhealthy beauty expectations
for teenagers like us,
because teenagers, we're just trying to fit in.
And sometimes these beauty expectations, they do get to us.
There are definitely photos
where I've, like, put filters on it,
or, like, edited it in some way
where I look skinnier or prettier,
or have less freckles, or whatever it is.
My friends are obsessed.
"Oh, how do I look in that picture?
"Oh, my body looks weird in that picture,
I shouldn't post it."
I'm, like, "Why does it matter?"
There's these people
who always look so perfect,
and they always have the cutest lattes,
and they're always traveling with the hot boyfriend,
and that's all they ever post.
You expect that to be your real life?
You have all these opportunities
to tell people about who you are,
and people tend to edit that because they want to be liked.
I tend to edit that because I want to be liked.
I also definitely think it's possible to overthink it.
If you just feel comfortable with yourself,
I think it's okay to post what you want to post.
Not only does it affect how we are online,
but it also affects how we hold ourselves,
and our self-importance in real life.
That person who you see living that perfect life
is kind of curating what they do,
so they're not showing you all of them,
so don't try to live up
to that very small part of their life.
# #