We are a society bound with narcissistic tendencies. Tendencies that are fed off of the validation of the society around us. Social media is no exception. Let me ask you a question, would you still post your selfie if I told you it would receive no likes? As much as I am ashamed to admit... I would say no. Over the past decade, we have been so heavily obsessed with our virtual identities, obsessed with our number of followers that we have created an alternate universe where we live our lives behind screens. We have lost all sense of individuality. All, to feel loved -- to be accepted. We have found validation in the unlikeliest of places, yet we are unable to find some in ourselves.

When social media platforms first surfaced, nobody anticipated that it would turn into the global phenomenon it is today but it has and with it has come a seemingly unquenchable need for validation. In 2004, Mark Zuckerberg introduced Facebook with the intention of creating a platform to socially interact and communicate. As of 2017, there are 1.86 billion active users on Facebook and 2/3 of people online, have social media accounts. The way I see it, he foresaw the power that social media would hold over our society. He was aware that validation was at the core of all social media addictions. He was aware that in the eyes of society, we would translate that ‘like’ on our selfies to a form of external validation. As a result, he has created the drug that has billions of people hooked.

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