Essena O'Neill was an Australian Teenager with over 612,000 followers on instagram. This week she has blown up the internet by revealing a video explaining how her instagram does not portray 'real life'.
She gave up her instagram as she believed she was false advertising. Her 17 minute video told her viewers how all of her images were constructed to make her life seem beautiful and care free, when in fact her life was the opposite.
Essena deleted around 2000 photographs across her social media platforms, changing their caption to 'expose the harsh and often humorous reality being the instafamous culture'.
She has been applauded by a wide audience for her video, many admiring her bravery and honesty
I feel that Essena was a big part of the Vegan community, I am not a Vegan but I do love when someone stands for what they believe in. Unfortunately through this the Vegan community has lost her, this is also something that has hardly been mentioned. Her diet was something positive and she deleted most of that to focus on the negatives.
Social media has a huge impact on everyone but this is solely down to how you use and abuse it. To me her issues started when she was young, posting revealing images to receive positive re-enforcement. This should have been more prominent in the media, how she was so young and vulnerable to be posting such things online. The internet is used to show only the highlights of our lives and to prove we are worthy. Something that can become poison if you then start comparing yourself to one another.
I understand social media isn't always real. People do this as their job and of course will persuade us things are great, so we buy them. That's advertising for you. Essena to me was warped and let her fame get the better of her then staying authentic to her followers. The media for personal use is meant to be positive, expressing yourself and what you want to be. It's a creative outlet to inspire one another.
Essena is young and it is admirable to see her understand her problems and take a step back. A lot of her statements are generalized and may only be of her own experience. To me switching off our tech more regularly and being present is the way forward.
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