The article, “Death of the private self”, written by John Harris, speaks about how Facebook has ruined interaction between humans in human society. The author believes that people constantly lie on the social media platform, and do not show how they truly live their lives. He also believes that individuals lie or bend the truth in order to look more appealing on social media.“In 2016, when the market research firm Custard surveyed 2,000 people in the UK, it found that only 18% of them said their Facebook profile accurately represented them, 31% said the face they presented on Facebook boiled down to “pretty much my life but without the boring bits”, and 14% said Facebook made them look “much more” socially active than they were.”-(paragraph 7, lines 5-10.) This quote shows how people mask their true identity in order to look like they are high and mighty, and that they don’t live a boring life.

Growing up with social media was hard for me at times. I would say I was pretty late to the game with social media, as I joined when I was 16, and I am now 20. Many of my peers have had social media since they were 13. As a teenager, you would go on Instagram or Facebook and see the lives of young celebrities. Although you want to be happy for them, deep down, it made me feel bad. These young teens, my age, had houses, cars, and did not even need to go to college to earn these riches. Seeing this makes teens feel bad about themselves, because they feel that they are not enough, which is horrible. Although I was not a victim of bullying, I saw a lot of it happening on social media. People would comment rude things on each others pictures, and overall, it was devastating to see. Social media is a place that is really not meant for children. I feel that social media should be open to those who are 18 and above. Social media makes young people feel that they are not enough, and that they have to change the way they look in order to fit in with society’s standards. Social media portrays the fake, lavish, lives that people live, and overall, it makes ordinary people feel bad about themselves.