Are People Living in a Fantasy Thanks to Instagram and Pinterest?

Greatist

I'll never get tired of saying how amazing social media is. I know I mention it a lot, but it's because it's true and it gets such a negative image in the press sometimes. Unfortunately not everything about it is good and it is because of that it doesn't always get such a great reputation. On social media, it is so easy to get enraptured by other people's lives and what they have. You can plan your dream life, dream body, dream wedding and so on, but so many people won't go out to achieve what exactly it is that they want.

It really is so easy to stumble across an Instagram account of someone who does what you want to do, to make a Pinterest board about all these amazing things you want or to watch Youtubers try out these things you'd never dare do yourself. It means you can enjoy them from the safety of your sofa without having to worry about what would happen to you. That could be a problem though when it means that all you're doing is sitting on social media. It's great for inspiration, for finding out what exactly it is that you want, but if you don't do anything about it, then what's the point? You can't tell people not to post what they like, but you also can't tell people to post what's going on in their own life either.

Voyeurism has always been a big thing and in the past, we only cared about celebrities and the images we saw of them. Now we can admire almost anyone whether we know them or not. In the case of Youtubers, you can even buy products with their name on, just so you feel a little more like them. There's nothing wrong with wanting to emulate someone provided you don't let it take over your life. We can't live a fantasy life even if it is easier and it can even make us hate ourselves. People worry about teenagers feeling like they're missing out because of what they see on social media, but it could be because of social media that people are missing out at all ages.

This isn't the worst thing to happen to us as humans though and it's not necessarily something that desperately needs to be fixed. You're not going to be able to change everyone's behaviour so easily, but you can personally start trying to not get so involved and if you see something you want in life, then go for it rather than just looking at it. It is easy to just sit back and admire things on Instagram or on Pinterest, especially when they are things we can't afford, but we can just use that as inspiration and find a way that we can do it that fits in our own lives without emulating our fantasy exactly.

Don't let social media become a negative obsession as it will be used against all of us. A little fantasy isn't all bad, but only when you keep it in check.

Rosina Brooker

Rosina is a Songbird writer with a degree in Creative Writing. She's trying to focus on her novel on the side but is glad to be playing around with apps and writing about them in the mean time! Follow her @Songbird_Rosina

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