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When you get on social media, it is so easy to get online and start comparing yourself to other creators who have more followers than you. As a disabled creator who has been online for seven years, I know that I am not the best creator on the Internet because there are people who have been blogging longer than I have who are better writers. Social media is not real life, and it can be dangerous to compare yourself to people online because you never know who is being fake for views and who is not. As a disabled creator, I have fallen into the comparison trap like most of us have, but I try to stop myself when I notice I am comparing myself to others because people will only post what will get views, and typically will leave out the hard times. People often will want to be like their favorite influencer, but it is so important that we try not to compare ourselves to people online because you never know what someone is going through behind the scenes by what they post on social media. Why shouldn’t you compare yourself to others online? In this post, I am going to talk about the harms of comparing yourself to your favorite online influencers.
You never know how people purchased their followers- When you get on social media, it is easy to look at someone’s follower count and become jealous and want what they have. As a disabled creator, I never look at someone’s follower count, and if you were to ask me how many followers some of the people I follow have, I would have to look it up because I don’t care how many followers other people have. A larger follower count doesn’t necessarily make someone more successful because engagement is equally as important. Some people purchase their followers to increase their follower count because buying followers is a thing. I will never become so desperate for more followers that I will quite literally purchase them, and everyone who has subscribed to my platforms did it out of their own free will. In my opinion, I think purchasing followers is a complete waste of money because although it may help increase your follower count, it will not increase engagement, and all that is going to do is give you a bunch of followers who probably have no intentions of reading your posts, which will not help you grow. You never know how many of those followers are organic and who was bought because, for all you know, you could be getting jealous of a bunch of robot followers who never engage. Fake accounts do exist and are more of a problem than people realize!
Some people Photoshop their images- Fitness is more difficult when you have a physical disability because fitness is not accessible, and there are a lot of exercises that are not possible with a disability and can’t always be modified. Social media has helped me improve my fitness level because I have found a lot of trainers who have taught me exercises that I would have never come up with myself, but since everyone is sharing their fitness journeys online, it makes it incredibly easy to start comparing yourself to people online who are more fit than you. I am not a fan of before-and-after photos because a lot of them are taken for vanity reasons or are Photoshopped and are not accurate representations of how someone really looks. I never photoshop my images to make myself look more toned than I really am. I want people to see the real me, and I do not think it’s helpful to mislead my audience and make them think I am more toned than I actually am. When it comes to fitness, it is so easy to compare yourself to people online because people are always taking post-workout selfies and posting them on the Internet, but it’s also important to know that not all fitness selfies are unedited, and most people photoshop or use AI to make themselves look better to get views. These days, you never know who is using AI to improve their physical appearance.
Some people have been online longer and work harder- If someone has more followers and engagement than me, I don’t sit around moping, wishing I were them, because wishing you are someone you are not will only make you unhappy, but instead, I let someone else’s success motivate and inspire me to stay consistent. Social media should not be a competition about who is a better creator, because you can learn a lot from people who are more experienced, but often it feels like a competition. People are very quick to compare themselves to other creators online and get jealous of them but never entertain the idea that maybe someone is more successful because they have been online longer and put in more hours. People who consistently create content and put more time and effort into building their brand are going to have larger audiences because they are putting in more work. You never know how many hours a day someone spends working by what you see on social media, because, for all you know, they could be working twice as hard as you. It doesn’t necessarily mean you can’t be as successful, or that they are a better creator, and it just means they are putting in more work that you aren’t willing to do or don’t have time for.
Social media has a lot of good uses, and you can learn a lot of new skills from things you see online, but it’s also equally as easy to start comparing yourself to others. As a creator who is online every single day, it is easy to fall into the comparison trap and get jealous of someone else’s success because they have more followers than you but it’s important to remember that not everything you see online is real. Most people aren’t going to share the things they are struggling with online and will only show what is good in their life, which can be harmful because that is not reality, and it’s not surprising everyone wants to look like a celebrity. Social media is a great place for disabled people because it allows you to connect with other disabled people who get it. The online fitness industry can be harmful because most of it is out of complete vanity and makes everyone think that if they worked a little harder, they would look like a celebrity. Do not compare yourself to others online because social media is only a small fraction of someone’s life. People will only share what they want you to know that they think will get views, but they will not share the uncomfortable things that are a little less flattering. Life is messy and isn’t as perfect as what you see on Instagram, and a lot of it is complete lies or very sugar-coated for views. Why do you think we shouldn’t compare ourselves to people online? If you liked this post, please leave a comment below and share it with your friends.
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