The images scream at us to to look, act, and think a certain way. We are convinced that we have to live our life according to the rules of Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube; when in reality, how social media portrays different situations is usually not how the real world truly is. Social media has skewed the expectations that many teens have about their relationships, their futures, and even their appearances.

“He liked her photo”; “She liked his photo”;“He doesn’t post enough about me”; “She is always logging into my accounts.” Social media is one of the most common topics that couples tend to argue about. Instead of getting caught up in the he said/she said drama, couples get caught up in the he liked/she liked drama. Teenagers are beginning to care more about being “goals” than they are about having a healthy relationship with someone they really care about. They care more about how the rest of the world views their relationship rather than how their relationship is actually doing.

“You’re not good enough for that”; “Girls can’t be ____”; “Guys can’t be ____.”  Social standards have been set that hinder the dreams that we each have. We are told that we are not capable being who we want to be because the social media sharks don’t approve of it. People knock one another down and make them feel inadequate instead of building one another up and supporting them. We need to begin to follow our dreams and not let social media standards keep us from that. Be your own person; follow your own dreams; don’t stop pursuing what makes you happy because your followers don’t support it.

“You’re not skinny enough”; “You’re not tall enough”; “You’re not handsome/pretty enough.” There are are so many rules that have been set (by whom we don’t know) that tell us how we should look and dress. Social media sends out the message that we must look great on the outside and that our true character is of less importance. Looking attractive is great; however, we need to focus more on how beautiful we are on the inside versus how we look on the outside. Someone may be the prettiest person in the world, according to the social beauty standards, but if their morals, personality, and character doesn’t match their beautiful exterior then we have a problem. True beauty is how you are on the inside, how you treat people, and how you live your life, not just how you look on the outside.

Social media has exposed so many standards and stereotypes that have been lurking quietly in our society for centuries and has made them more public than ever. Let’s break these standards. Let’s focus more on having healthy relationships than cute relationships, following our dreams instead of the dreams the world shoves towards us, and having beautiful hearts instead of just beautiful faces.