Australian teen and Instagram star, Essena O'Neill, said she is quitting social media to live a more realistic life.
Many people find social media like Instagram fun, exploring its features and get the chance to flaunt tons of beautiful photos of oneself, get likes from other users, as well as gain followers, reported Teen Vogue.
Instagram has made it possible for many people to live their dreams. Some people have experienced being on top and while they have to savor the fact of being there, not all will abandon the post after "making it."
One of those is Instagram teen star Essena O'Neill,18, who quit everything, such as, Snapchat and Tumblr, where she had thousands of followers. She also deactivated her Instagram and YouTube accounts.
She rewrote some of the captions of her photos to tell everyone the real stories behind the images she had posted.
"People speak about me differently because I have this following," O'Neill said in a video on her Vimeo channel, "As if it makes me different to you. It doesn't! If anything, it makes me incredibly more insecure about other people's opinions about myself. I want you to know that I used to be obsessed with being 'followed' or being liked... Nothing's wrong with that....Everyone wants to feel valued and loved. But on social media [as] it currently stands, a number will never give you that feeling."
Instagram star Essena O'Neill deleted 2,000 pictures on the service, reported Sky News. She said they had no purpose but "self-promotion," and changed the account name as "Social Media Is Not Real Life."
She stated she was addicted to social approval and "terrified no one would value" her for herself. The teen stated she will post videos three times weekly on Vimeo, a service that does not have fame-based metrics like YouTube and Instagram.
"How will I spread my message? Organically. If it moves someone, they tell their friends about it, simple as that. P.S when the new form of social sharing comes out, something that doesn't revolve around the likes and views, but based on similar topics/quality for example, I will see you there, whenever that day comes. We must create change." Instagram star Essenna O'Neill said.
