Followers = Validation?

I recently read an article that said that social media is a positive thing because it helps boosts peoples' egos. And I thought to myself, "Say what?" But as I read the entire article, it all started to make sense.

Let me give you an example. I am subscribed to maybe 15 or so popular YouTubers. And whenever they post a new video, they post a picture on Instagram or Twitter with a caption like, "New video is up guys! Can I get 20,000 'likes' in 20 minutes?" Basically, they are begging for "likes", which to me, is off-putting. But thinking about this article in relation to those captions made me understand the article's point. Does it matter if we spend a week shooting a YouTube video, spend 40 hours editing and are really proud of the final product? Or does it only matter if it gets thousands of "likes"? Are we really only searching for the approval of others? Are our own opinions of what we do and how we live just simply not enough anymore?

The same principle can be tied into other social media sites, like Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. Why do we post pictures of everything we eat? (Actually, I don't do that. I hate when other people do that. I don't care about your food.) Why do we tweet our every thought and question? Why do we post witty statuses?

The answer is simple: for validation. We want people to "like" what we're eating, what we're thinking, etc. I know so many people that are constantly glued to their phones, waiting to see how many "likes" the picture of their Taco Bell quesadilla can get. And why? Because they are somehow seeking the approval of Facebook friends on their eating habits? Pretty much.

This brings me to my next observation. At the end of pretty much every video done by a YouTuber that I subscribe to, they say something like, "Make sure to follow me on Twitter, Tumblr, Instagram and Facebook. Links are in the description." And my first thoughts are always, "Why should I? I subscribe to you on YouTube, isn't that enough? You're just going to constantly be making the same posts but on different websites." I think that it's because when someone has 400,000 Twitter followers, it makes them feel special because people "want" to know about their lives. But do they really? I follow tons of people on Instagram, for example, and I only really look at photos that I care about, which are few and far between.

Plus, it doesn't seem to matter that most of those people following them on Twitter are the same 400,000 people following them on Instagram. But does that matter? No because to them, it's 400,000 people that care about what they ate for lunch that day. Somehow, every time we get a "like" or a follower, it makes us feel better, like we're important or like we're validated for what we do, etc., which shouldn't be the case.

No matter what you post on social media, these people are pretty much all strangers and will probably never meet you. So why are you seeking their attention, love, "likes" and even validation? Just be you. No, scratch that. Just be the best you that you can be and all of that other stuff will follow.

Happy Friday!

-Chelsea