What is society? The dictionary definition is ‘Society is people in general, thought of as a large organised group’. ‘Organised group?’, how do those words make you feel? Are we categorised, stereotyped, pushed in one general direction? Do you ever feel like your life is planned out for you? You will follow the rest of society: go to school, get a job, get married, have kids, grow old, die. We are stuck in this never-ending cycle with no escape. Sometimes I feel this overwhelming urge to go somewhere new, to start over, to become a completely different person. The limit of our society today constricts us.
Even though we are still stuck in the never-ending cycle, society has drastically changed because of the introduction of technology and social media. I am part of the ‘Millennium generation’ as they like to call us. I have no experience of what life is like without the pressures of social media or highly developed technology. The youth of today have been unintentionally manipulated into thinking we need to be perfect. Social media allows us to present this manipulation, become someone we are not, a better, less troubled version of our self. Young people are drowning in a society clinging on to a desperate need for perfection. Society is in a loop. Recently added to this loop is this idea of ‘perfection’ a ‘perfect physical image’. It is an idea which we know is impossible but yet it’s what we all strive for. Our society is slowly crumbling into an organised group of fake perfect people or imperfect broken ones. Mental illnesses such as depression effect around 20% of adolescents. The effects of social media have grown so substantial that it has contributed to teen suicide being the third leading cause of death in people aged 10-24 in the United States. It is thought that that statistic is similar for other countries around the globe.
Our society has become a group of troubled people immersed in their phones never thinking to look up at the world around them. Never thinking to be different. Never thinking to break the cycle. We are given a set of rules to play by and if you put one foot wrong society tears you down. It has however, come to the realisation of many that the pressures of our society today are harrowing. It has become a trend to go off the grid for a short amount of time. I have done this and being a young teenage girl, I found myself free of a burden. I wasn’t as stressed and I found I was happier. I saw what it would be like if social media didn’t exist and it opened my eyes. Others should try this. Not think of it as a punishment or a test, think of it as a change and see what its like. You might find yourself genuinely happier breaking the rules of todays society. Breaking the cycle.
