Social media such as Instagram, Snapchat, and Twitter can be fun and entertaining. However, it can also be a nightmare disguised as a daydream. People share the highlights of their lives online, but ignore the negatives as they try to portray a perfect image.

Senior Ashton Rea has almost every social media app there is and deals with problems that lower her self-esteem and make her believe that she has to put on an act.

“[Social media] makes people hold higher standards for themselves, which [causes] them to feel insecure, and it makes you feel like you have to compare yourself to people,” Rea said. “People act like they have a perfect life, so others feel like they also have to present [that] their life is perfect. They don’t post what’s bad [in their life], they just post the good things.”

Rea feels that social media has also affected her personally and has swayed her decisions on what she chooses to show the world.

“I feel like I can’t post something from fear that others will think it looks bad, or if it’s not what everyone else is posting, I don’t feel like I can post it.,” Rea said.

Sophomore Celia Tillery agrees with Rea on some of the negative impacts of social media. Tillery believes that social media can become too much of a priority in people’s lives, which can cause problems in the long run.

“People glorify the amount of followers or likes someone has, and that can have a huge negative impacts on someone’s mental state,” Tillery said. “There are so many stories of bad things happening to people because of big social media apps like Instagram.”

Tillery used to have most of the major social media apps, but has now deleted them because of the pressure it put on her.

“I deleted my Instagram account, because I didn’t want to feel pressured in the future. Although I’m not always up to date with everything that is going on, I feel like it’s been better for me to be without Instagram,” Tillery said. “I have more time on my hands, and I’m a lot happier.”

School counselor Quandera Spring states that people will often base success off of likes and shares. Spring feels that comparison is also a big problem, especially with famous people.

“[Social media] allows teenagers to mimic celebrities in a negative light, based on views, especially females,” Spring said. “It hinders how [girls] view their body, their hair, their features and how they show them publicly.”

Spring has dealt with student problems in the past which have been caused by social media through cyber bullying. People share and spread certain things that are personal and get it to social media, which severely impacts a person in a negative way. Spring believes that the best solution to problems with social media is to simply take a break.

“It is okay to shut down,” Spring said. “You need to take time away, especially if you find yourself becoming obsessive. If you’re constantly recording everything, it’s taking over. You need to find a balance.”