Essena O’Neill, a social media darling with thousands of followers on Instagram, YouTube, Tumblr and Snapchat, just announced that she is quitting social media for good.

As her social media posts show, 18-year-old O’Neill seemed to have the perfect life — she’s young, pretty and loved by fans all over the world. Unfortunately, according to her, this social media obsession made her unhappy.

“I’m quitting Instagram, YouTube and Tumblr. Deleted over 2000 photos here today that served no real purpose other than self promotion. Without realising, I’ve spent majority of my teenage life being addicted to social media, social approval, social status and my physical appearance,” she wrote. “Social media, especially how I used it, isn’t real. It’s 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 judgement. I was consumed by it.”

After coming to that realization, O’Neill said she would be launching a new website dedicated to educating people about the “destructive nature of trying to gain approval online.”

Source:

Time.com