Teen social media star, Essena O'Neil who has been popular with her selfies, #ootds and #fitspo photos and videos that has drawn the attention of almost a million followers on her Instagram, YouTube, Tumblr and Snapchat, has turned her web space off after realizing that "Social Media Is Not Real Life," last week.
She made a stand on her post on October 27, calling out the negative effects of social media has on people, that even she, in spite of being paid to model and having a massive supporters and follower - was not exempt from.
"I've spent the majority of my teenage life being addicted to social media, social approval, social status, and my physical appearance, [Social media] is contrived images and edited clips ranked against each other. It's a system based on social approval, likes, validation, in views, success in followers, it's perfectly orchestrated self-absorbed judgment."
She deleted her 2000 photos, and renamed her account to "Social Media Is Not Real Life," and added a description that she "was both addicted to social approval and terrified no one would value me for myself. So I rewrote the captions of these false photos with short shots of reality."
She wrote with blunt truths behind the public eyes, the sacrifices she made, the people she hurt and the pressures she had to live with - just to look perfect before her followers.
"I can't tell you how free I feel without social media. Never again will I let a number define me. IT SUFFOCATED ME," she writes, "I know you didn't come into this world just wanting to fit in and get by. You are reading this now because you are a game changer, you might not know your power yet I am just finding mine, but man...when you do...far out you'll go crazy. It'll be brilliant. You'll be brilliant."
O'Neil migrated her video channel to Vimeo, since she's tired of YouTube and Instagram's popularity based metrics, as she spreads her advocacy by sharing her thoughts about how her obsession to the world's validation made her more insecure and self-absorbed, and how awesome it is to live in real life than to be constantly online and focused on social media.
