You have most likely seen videos of people doing certain things for likes or follows. Most of social media is about seeking validation from others to boost your self-esteem. Teenagers are sucking in this content and using it as an example of how they should get validation. The best validation you can get is from yourself. Before social media, I understood that if I liked to do something like painting, it didn’t matter if other people liked it or not. Now, social media has taught me, and many teenagers, that it does, in fact, matter what people think and tries to make you feel bad.
Silence hurts more than hate:
Many of your favorite social media influencers are greedy for engagement on their posts and want even more than before. Adding all of the coolest and trendy hashtags to try to get thousands of people to view their content. We all know the pop culture moment of Charli D’Amelio stating she wanted 100 million followers. James Charles responded with, “Was the 95 million not enough for you?” If you break that moment apart, you can realize that influencers crave the satisfaction of people liking them so they can think to themselves, “Maybe if other people like me, then I can like myself,” which isn’t the healthiest thing to think. We should be validating ourselves and knowing we like ourselves, not because others like us or what we do, but because we enjoy our own presence.
Validation as a currency:
Influencer trips and PR packages from different companies have been very popular over the last few years. Social media and real life are very different. Everyone portrays themself differently, as when you meet them on social media to real life. There have been many scandals and illegal matters happening because people thought an influencer was a better person than they turned out to be. The Ashley Barnes situation was between a group of people who were hanging out at some sort of influencer party. Ashley Barnes was facing major substance addiction and did some non-consensual things to this group of influencers. Her dad did nothing but take her side and ignore the other influencers’ perspectives. We have to be so careful about who people actually are. You may think, “I would love to be them or be like them,” and they actually turn out to be someone who does not have the same values.
Performative side: (changing yourself to fit others’ approval) 
Everyone has two sides to them—a social media perspective and in real life. Everyone posts usually the best version of themselves. Many people take the best photos, and some even edit themselves to look even better. Some people act a certain way and try to always be the cute version of themselves. I found this TikTok of a girl named Sara Puhto. In this video she posted last year, she posted a side-by-side comparison of her being edited and a video of her without edits. This comparison shows in the edited version her having a slimmer figure with a full beat of makeup on. Next to the edited version is the same outfit and everything, with the non-edited version showing that you shouldn’t compare yourself to what you see online. You never know who is hiding behind the scenes because they probably look exactly like you.
Never compare yourself to others or try to get people to like you or your content. Like you because you are amazing and you. This is corny, but always be yourself. You are always going to be the best you, and no one can be you. You are always valid, no matter who says you aren’t.
