Vibrant sunsets, sparkling waters, sun-kissed skin—now that I’ve got your attention… these are just several endless aspirations of contemporary culture.

You wake up every morning and grab your phone… right? Then you cross into the realm of social media—where you see assortments of smiling faces and beautiful places. Scrolling through portrayals of deceptive realities and hopeless aspirations.

According to the Pew Research Center, social media ups the envy of the current generations more than ever. There was a time where a picture was taken and that was that. You couldn’t redo it because the film was already developing. But now, with innovative technology, we are allowed to take seemingly endless photos—redoing them until they’re “picture perfect.”

Taking this and applying it the recent elevation of jealousy in modern culture—it would be safe to assume that the picture a person posts on Instagram is not the first one they took. This begins the verification that the lives people portray on social media are illusive and unattainable.

With over 196 million people linked into social media this provides a massive foundation for envy to roam. Constant updates from celebrities and companies can leave people with the impression that they don’t have enough, and that they never will.

According to The Renfrew Center, 68 percent of adults edit their selfies before posting. This again promotes the illusory reality within social media. With numerous deceitful images, people on social media are attempting to live up to impossible expectations.

Social media is sometimes argued to be a quick and effective way to stay in contact with relatives and long distance friends. But is that worth all the stress and pressure of living up to unattainable expectations?

Living in a world of constant communication and instant social media can lead to low self-esteem and jealousy. Modern culture makes people feel like they can never have sufficient possessions or faultless qualities. In order to end this epidemic people need to first, be aware of the problem. Then, they need to either step away from social media or begin to understand the inaccurateness of the photo shopped and edited realm of social media.

Modern culture is inadvertently stimulating jealously. Turning away or refuting the expectations of society can promote healthy growth for current culture as a whole.

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