Should You Stay... Should You Go?

 Eyes glued to your screen, feeling like they have been lit on fire because you haven't blinked in the past 2.5 hours. Your thumb is starting to cramp because they are constantly petting your screen, glass wearing down beneath your nub. But it's okay because when you see that little heart pop up at the bottom of your screen, you know that you must be doing something right.

We all have good days, bad days, and days... lets just say they don't count. But on your good days, you know that all of your 785 followers on Instagram just are calling your name. So you gather up your buddy or set up a nifty station and get self-timer running until finally, you get the perfect "candid" shot. (I don't judge. I definitely do the same thing.) But what would you do if those followers weren't beckoning your name from the back of your sub-conscious. Well stop.

When was the last time you actually did something for yourself and not your "friends" that actually don't really care about what you are doing?

Essena O'Neill, an 18 year old social media superstar from Australia, has recognized the destruction that social media can cause first hand. Essena decided to quit everything-- Tumblr and Snapchat, where she had hundreds of thousands of followers-- and all but deactivated her Youtube and Instagram accounts, where she currently is rewriting her captions to tell the real stories behind her "perfect" pictures that has been posted over her three-year "Insta-career."

NOT REAL LIFE- took over 100 in similar poses trying to make my stomach look good. Would have hardly eaten that day. Would have yelled at my little sister to keep taking them until I was somewhat proud of this. Yep so totally #goals

"People speak about me differently because I have this following," she said in a video on her new Vimeo channel, "as if it makes me different to you. It doesn't! If anything, it makes me incredibly more insecure about other people's opinions about myself." She continues to share how she used to be with being followed or liked and how she was obsessed with people liking her. Essena admits that there is nothing wrong with that but the love that you are craving and seeking online, isn't real love. She has deleted over 2,000 photos on her Instagram that "served no real purpose other than self-promotion." Essena renamed her account "Social Media is Not Real Life" and explains how she was addicted and terrified of not being valued for herself so she rewrote the captions of the false photos with "short shots of reality".  

Essena has decided to post to Vimeo three times a week. Vimeo doesn't function like Youtube or Instagram's popularity-based metrics tend to do. She was curious how she would spread her message. "Organically. If it moves someone, they tell their friends about it, simple as that. P.S. when the new form of social sharing comes out, something that doesn't revolve around likes and views but based similar topics/quality for example, I will see you there, whenever that day comes. We must create change." She continues to explain how she was only ever happy when her content did well or when a brand deal went really well or when people told her how much they appreciate her.

 Essena is helping spread the awareness that staring at an image or refreshing a page to see the "likes" roll in is no way to live. Unplugging for a few moments everyday gives you time to appreciate the world around you. And even when you are connected, remember that everything is not as it seems-- and in fact, life is even better when you live it unfiltered... that is to say, IRL. 

So do you think you'll support this movement?

(You can count me in)

xoxo, Kaila