What I think about Social Media (old)

Don't get me wrong, I like social media. And I really like instagram.

But as I was reading through the first part of the interview with the young girls and the radio station, I realized that I was a lot like them when I was 12 and 13 years old. I too absolutely loved to get those adoring complements from my friends when I would post selfies (and if you are honest with yourself, you probably did too).

The posting of selfies on IG and seeing people comment things like "You are so gorgeous!" and "You are perfect!" were extremely encouraging when I first started out on Instagram. I think it's awesome that people like to post positive things about girls' looks on social media. However, there is a side-effect that comes along with all the superficial praise. When the ultimate goal is to receive a bunch of "you're pretty" comments, young girls begin to feel like they have to post THE perfect picture of themselves EVERY time. When the picture isn't the single most attractive picture they have seen of themselves, it gets deleted. When the picture doesn't get as many likes or comments as the last post, young girls immediately panic, like you saw during the interview when they started to worry that not enough people would be awake to see the photo. Waiting around for people to comment on pictures that "you're pretty" or "hot" is dangerous. Pretty soon, young girls may find themselves ONLY posting pictures to get those types of comments, and when they don't get them or don't get as many as they thought they would, they can start to feel insecure.

I think it's important to remember that you are worth something because you were created by the King of Kings, not because you can take a nice photo of yourself. Don't get me wrong, it's ok to post pictures that you think you look good in-- I do it all the time-- and it's ok to take compliments too. But here's the thing that most young girls are missing out on: someone else telling you you're beautiful is not what makes you beautiful. In other words, you don't need someone else calling you pretty to make it true. A person is beautiful because God makes beautiful things, and not mistakes. That is something not enough young girls seem to know these days.