What if you saw pictures every day of people that looked perfect, seemed popular, and were having fun? What if these people looked like that all the time? What if you went to school with these people? What if they were your friends? This sums up how a lot of teenagers feel when they log on to Instagram, and it gets old...fast. When people post on Instagram, they have total control on what parts of their lives are viewable to their friends and followers. They don’t have to post about failed tests or problems with parents; instead, they can post heavily edited “selfies” or snapshots taken while they're with friends. When you are the one viewing this sugar-coated version of someone else’s life, it can take a huge toll on your self-esteem.
     Oftentimes adults focus on how influential media in involvement Hollywood is, when what is often overlooked is social media. On TV and in movies most people see characters as what they are - fictional. It is generally understood that what happens on TV never happens in real life. Most people are taught that on TV average or unimportant parts of the character's lives are not included. We realize that it is unrealistic for our lives to match the lives of characters in movies. In real life we know that you can't skip over the average parts. There is a ton of makeup used on TV that can make the characters look plastic and unrealistic. We know that most people don't look like that naturally, and that's okay with us.  At a young age children come to understand that real life and TV life are very different.
      The trouble comes in once we view people going about their everyday lives online, and they seem perfect. Many young people who use Instagram tend to be very impressionable.

When we see people we know having fun and hanging out with their friends all the time, we assume that our lives should be like that too. When we see these pictures of our friends or acquaintances online that look perfect, we assume we should look like that too. We don’t have any part of our brains telling us that this media is fiction, because it’s not.
Something that many people overlook while using social media is the sharer’s ability to control how everyone is viewing their lives. If people were to share every little thing that happened to them online, it is likely that more people would be able to relate to them and see the good and bad. The problem is no one wants everyone to be able to see the negatives, so often times people only post about the positives. When we see all of these positives, even though we are only seeing a little tiny portion of these peoples’ lives, we assume that their entire lives are that way. This is because when people paint a picture of their lives that anyone can see, they don’t address the negatives. Sometimes this leaves us feeling like we know everything about someone, but we don’t realise that we only what they want us to know. When we see a number of people posting in this selective way we get an idea inside our heads that we should be more like them, or that we should do things the way they do them.
The only effective way in changing how people feel about themselves on social media is changing its’ culture in general. Social media is a powerful tool that can be used as a resource to socialise with friends and classmates. Sharing your life on social media should be fun, not used  to boast or put others down. If you think that anyone would feel negatively affected by
something you shared on social media, take the initiative to not post it. Likewise, if you have negative feelings towards something someone posts, let them know. While we can use social

media to brag and belittle others, we can also use it to enhance people’s confidence and grow our friendships.