Slaves To Likes

Slaves to Likes By: Maria Acosta, 11° · Follow The alarm rings. It's 5:30 am. Emma wakes up anxiously since she couldn’t rest the night before thinking about the science test she would have later that day. After struggling to open her eyes, Emma gets up, and before going to the shower, searches for her favorite country music on Spotify. Suddenly, Emma changes her mind and decides to change her country for trap. Even though she hates trap because of its evident degradation of women, she knows people say it's cooler than her favorite genre, so she might as well get used to enjoying it.

Later, when choosing what to wear for school, Emma spots her new mustard yellow blouse. She is excited to try it on, but just before doing so, she remembers the killer looks that would chase her at school judging her for bad taste in clothing. As a result, she decides to go basic in her dark jeans, black t-shirt and white vans.

While swiping through Instagram, she gives a like and comment to her friend's RKEVWTG0GZVUJGCPZKQWUN[RKEMUQPGQHVJGJWPFTGFUQHOKTTQTUGNſGUYJGTGUJGKUYGCTKPIGZCEVN[VJGUCOGQWVſVCUJGTHTKGPFCPFRQUVUKVYKVJVJGECRVKQP116& QWVſVQHVJGFC[*GTJCPFUIGVUYGCV[6JG[VTGODNGCUUJGJQRGUHQTJGTRKEVWTGto receive a higher amount of likes and comments than her friend.

Emma leaves late and without breakfast, as she spent more than half an hour putVKPIQPUJCTRECVG[GNKPGTUQKVŏUUKOKNCTVQYJCV-GPFCNN,GPPGTYQTGQPJGTŎEQQNŏSnapchat story from last night. As she passes through the hallway at school, Emma feels pressure from the crowd because her two best friends have not yet arrived, so she is left alone. As usual, Emma feels like people are randomly staring at her, judging her loneliness. But none of them are actually looking at her.

'OOCŏUſTUVENCUUQHVJGFC[KU'PINKUJ5JGMPQYUVJGTGŏUIQPPCDGCITCFGFFKUcussion. Emma is excited to participate and has incredible evidence to contribute. She then feels her phone buzzing in her pocket, and looks down to the WhatsApp year’s group chat. Some students had sent messages saying how annoying and intense she was. Someone else kicked her out of the group. As a result, Emma drowns in fear of speaking up, if she were to do so, she’d be standing opposite to the opinion of her classmates, and she does not want to be left out. She keeps quiet, but later on regrets her silence.

At lunch Emma is haunted by the smell of meat, and is tempted by a hamburger. 5JG RCVKGPVN[YCKVUKPVJGECHGVGTKCNKPGCU UJGſPFU JGTUGNHNQQMKPICVVJG PGYVictoria's Secret model on her phone, who's recipe to stay skinny are her fat burning pills. Emma decides to get out of the line, and considers giving those tips for a “healthy detox” a try. She decides to skip lunch and focus on reviewing the content for the science exam she would have to take the following period. When the bell rings, Emma has a mental block and can’t remember anything she studied. Then, she begins to feel an infernal headache, as if the whole world is circling around her. The last thing she remembers is the teacher’s voice yelling, “Emma are you

okay? What’s wrong?” Their voice slowly fading away. Next, she opens her eyes CPFſPFUJGTUGNHKPVJGUEJQQNKPſTOCT[YKVJVJGPWTUGCPFJGTOQVJGTUVCTKPICVJGTYKVJEQPEGTP'OOCFKUEQXGTUUJGJCFHCKPVGFDGECWUGQHPWVTKGPVFGſEKGPE[ECWUGFD[PQVGCVKPIGPQWIJVJCVFC[9JKNGKPVJGECTJGCFKPIJQOGVGCTUƀQYdown Emma’s cheeks, and then they fall onto her basic black t-shirt. It had not been a good day. She is slowly consumed by guilt and hopelessness, and she’s also overwhelmed; but worst of all, she swears social media has nothing to do with the melancholy of the day.

'OOCKUCTGƀGEVKQPQHVJGUKVWCVKQPUOCP[)GP<ŏUGZRGTKGPEG5JGKUVJGRGTfect example of how centennials are trapped by unattainable stereotypes and paradigms leading to extreme desires all the be same, provoked by how being ŎFKHHGTGPVŏ JCUVWTPGF QWVVQ DGC TGCUQP HQTLWFIGOGPV6GGPCIGTUCTG JGCXKN[KPƀWGPEGFD[VJQUGKFGQNQIKGUVJCVUQEKCNOGFKCFKEVCVGUVQVJGOUWDEQPUEKQWUN[Those who grew up in the new technological world became victims of a pressure not only between peers, but amongst themselves. We become unconsciously submissive and conforming to the expectations of society to such a point that those norms become our own. Social media teaches us how to act. It teaches us our values and desirability, what to project, and what aspirations should be. This pressure is evident through applications such as Instagram, Snapchat, WhatsApp. The NKUVIQGUQP6JGUGCRRUVGCEJWUJQYYGUJQWNFRQUGYJCVſNVGTUYGUJQWNFWUGwhat we should cook, how we should dress, what we should eat, all based on the #trendingaesthetic. We are so caught up in them that we are not noticing the ultimate effects of our decisions. Life is about enjoying every moment, about loving others, about loving ourselves and surely about failing, learning from failure and then succeeding. It's certainly not about submitting ourselves to a constant pressure to follow what social networks have taught us when we blindly are trying to NKXGCEEQTFKPIVQVJGNKHGQHCPKPƀWGPEGT2GTHGEVKQPFQGUPŏVGZKUVCPFEQORCTKUQPsimply corrupts human beings. Life is not a competition for the prize of who has the coolest feed. Also, it is not about desiring to construct our whole lives based on the youtuber with the most subscribers. We are fed comments, likes, followers, photos, voidless information, that we believe we crave, but which actually starve our brain, heart and stomach. All of this abstract and non-existent perfection we UGGKPUQEKCNOGFKCKUJWTVKPIQWTUGNXGUCPFQVJGTU9GCUIGPGTCVKQP<NKXGCchallenge every day in which we must remind ourselves to unlearn what these applications have taught us. Let’s not grant the control of our life course to subjective ideas. We must undervalue perfection stereotypes and embrace the differences. Still, at the end of the day, it’s your decision to decide what is it that you want. Do you expect to live a mindless and unconscious slavery or are you willing to allow yourself to be free?