Is quitting social media a new trend? Many people throughout the year have been seen quitting social media, and then jumping back on the bandwagon later. Social media seems to have consumed us. Constantly scrolling through our phones and posting things has become a bad habit. In addition, we should be more cautious of the negative effects it can have on us.

Eighteen-year-old Australian Instagram model and vegan YouTuber, Essena O’Neill, recently came out stating she was deleting her accounts on social media. O’Neill had over 500,000 followers and is sponsored by many companies to promote their products in her posts. She found that it was taking over her life, and that she was not being true to herself anymore. The fame was also making her depressed.

O’Neill’s reason behind quitting social media was as follows: “I quit social media because of my 12-year-old self,” she says in the video found on YouTube. “Being with people in your real life, hugging people, talking to people … that is … real life, and I didn’t do it for the majority of my life … I was just living in a screen.” The video got more than two-million views in twenty-four hours. The video has gone viral and has people discussing the negatives of social media. This is something our generation needs to have more knowledge about.

Social media is something that forces us to create false ideas about ourselves, and we hope others like it in return. It is essentially all about getting likes and your followers making you feel good about yourself. It also provides bullies with something to comment on, and it happens quite often – we just don’t hear about it.

As a generation, we need to be more cautious of what we are posting on the web. It will outlive us and always be there to be used against us. I only post pictures that I think make myself look the best I can, but is that going to boost my self-esteem? No, it is not. We need to learn how to feel good about ourselves without exposing ourselves to the world.