“Likes may be the free, quick, legal crack of our time. “You get an emotional high when your posts hit a responsive chord with your audience, so you keep going after it, and you’re never fulfilled because you’ll always want more likes”
– Sarah Z. Wexler
As I flipped through Cosmo’s June issue I couldn’t help but be completely fascinated with this article. We have become so in touch with social media’s ability to increase our social status, that we are very quickly – possibly even unknowingly – losing touch with real approval.
I can’t deny that I haven’t posted a photo and spent more time waiting for the approval of my followers than just enjoying the very moment the photo was meant to capture.
If it is social approval we are seeking we should be less focused on finding it on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. A compliment from someone face-to-face seems to have a lasting effect, while the satisfaction from “likes” ends as soon as you hit that refresh button and the “like” is no longer recent. This familiar ritual whereby we “like” or “love” something has made us addicted to constant approval without appreciation.
A photo is meant to capture a moment, but in order to reflect back on that moment it needs to have been experienced. What kinds of stories will come from these photos if all we can remember is staring at our screens, refreshing our notifications, and waiting for the “likes” to click in? Media play a very substantial part in our lives, however we can’t forget to enjoy the lives we live as separate from our social media accounts.
Read the article here!
The Busy Blonde 