#unfiltered

I like to think that I am both reasonably similar and different from my peers, as any reflective Millennial would.  I understand very well how our societal system works, yet I like to do things my own way (my parents will likely confirm this in the comments section). This seemingly unconquerable cognitive conundrum has fascinated me for a while now, causing me to constantly ponder the value of expressing my thoughts through writing. After all, I was set on becoming a journalist before falling in love with the business world in high school- thanks, Mrs. Moore. Alas, I have reconnected with my inner writing spirit and am embarking on a quest to cross off another thing from my young and ever-growing bucket list: start a blog.

The plan is simple and is as follows: write by a strictly random schedule on strictly random topics. That's right. I'm not making any money off of this, so to put myself on an itinerary seems abusive, and to write about things I don't want to seems, well... dumb. Plus, I'm sure you're all uncontrollably interested in hearing me talk when I want to talk, right? No?

Anyways, like many other college-aged wonderers, I often plague myself with unanswerable questions as soon as my head hits the pillow at night. I write the good ones down sometimes and analyze them when my brain isn't trying desperately to turn itself off. A few notable ones are as follows:

What if I would have gone to Missouri State?

How does the accomplishment of making it on Wall Street weigh against the intrinsic value of becoming a young entrepreneur?

What if I were still rocking the Bieber look? (Nightmares usually follow this one.)

After glancing at this list and weighing which to begin with, I decided that it would be best to talk about a topic that possibly meaninglessly passed through my head at 2AM last night, yet accounted for hours of lost sleep: the over-edited Instagram picture.

I'm sure I'll have grandparents and other older family members read this that are overwhelmed with the process of changing a profile picture. So, for simplicity, think of Instagram as "Facebook, but only pictures". For this article's sake however, it is important to note the editing features of Instagram.

In a nutshell, Instagram allows you to take a normal, unspectacular picture, like this:

And make it look jaw-dropping and magnificent, like this:

Or an unassuming picture, like this:

And turn it into something glamorous, like this:

Although I do sometimes play around with the brightness in my pictures (I tend to appreciate photography too), I personally haven't filtered a picture in almost a year. The reason for this? I naively scrolled through my Instagram pictures one day- to show off a fish I had caught years ago to a fellow fisherman friend, of course- and noticed how ridiculously orange my skin was, and how unnaturally blue the ocean was. That's because that's not what the picture looked liked when it was taken- that's not what I saw that day.

To me, social media originated as a means to stay connected with your friends (R.I.P. myspace). It soon became a large-scale networking tool that people still under-appreciate, and eventually evolved into a seemingly infinite digital phenomenon that now includes up-to-the-minute news, creative content (like this), photos, videos, and a slew of other "things". I mean, companies spend billions of dollars a year on social media. Compare that to the early 2000's when it was still in its prepubescent stages...

The reason social media has grown so exponentially, you ask? Quite simply put, it is interesting. If people didn't like it, if they didn't use it, it would have no value. And the more people that use social media, the more valuable it becomes to society as a whole. Quite the interesting situation for a savvy social-media user that is looking to really stand out, huh?

Although, I understand the new roles social media plays and grow more fascinated with its new features and applications every day, a part of me misses one of the initial purposes of it: show others who you are. Anymore, people spend an exhausting and sickening amount of time and effort in making themselves look better online than they really are. If you have to make your picture appear more interesting than it really is, what does it say about the content?

I'm all for showing others the cool things that you're doing with your life, your accomplishments, and your ideas- the things that really matter to you most. I wouldn't be connected with you on social media if I didn't want to see those things. But, a part of me frowns when I scroll through my feed and find myself distracted by an obnoxiously edited picture that now resembles an atomic bomb exploding more than the original sunset that it began as. Don't get me started on the staged "candid" photo...

Now, if you're falling asleep and asking yourself if I'm done ranting yet and wondering how many readers I've offended with this little post, you'll be delighted to know that I'm almost finished. However, I want to reiterate the whole point of taking the time out of my day to write. That's correct, I'm not aiming to aggravate my friends- I actually have a meaningful message that I wanted to portray.

Roll these questions over in your head for a few minutes as you think about how you portray yourself online  and in reality:

How do you stand out, but not cross the line?

How do you express your uniqueness without becoming over-eccentric?

How do you measure being yourself in a world that teaches you to be the flattest piece in the puzzle?

The answer lies in truly being an interesting person, so that you no longer have to try to make others think you are interesting. After all, you can't be happy with yourself if you become something that you aren't. Be yourself. Be #unfiltered.