This Generation Is Destroying Its Self-Worth By Depending On Likes To Feel Love

We rock each diamond as if it represents a milestone in our lives, instead of investing in the experiences that expand our minds.

It's as if we have completely forgotten about the things that make us truly happy.

The moral code of our society is being reshaped right before our eyes, and everything we stand for is slipping out from underneath our feet.

We have succumbed to the pressure of big businesses forcing their power onto us, and people have become lifeless consumers, waiting for the next trend to hit stores.

What's worse is we are being consumed as we consume. People are addicted to social media like drugs, itching for it the moment they roll out of bed.

The people who sit around our dinner tables are becoming strangers, as the distant lives of acquaintances illuminate our pixelated screens.

We no longer see the faces in front of us because we're focused on a new source of instant gratification.

I believe there is the same fire burning underneath each of us, a passion that drives us all to inspire and envision the world together.

I still believe we are capable of breaking free from the things that prevent the human experience from being something shared in person and not just online.

When did "likes" become more important than love?

The worst thing that can happen in life is a lack of love. And the essence of love has been depleted in value and twisted into a commercially sold product.

We no longer appreciate how beautiful love can be, as it’s been clouded by a world that is promoting thick thighs, and thigh gaps, and how closely you can get to Kylie Jenner's lips.

Why are we so focused on the superficial when it's so hypocritical of itself? We blindly follow celebrities as if they are our superiors, and we're taught to listen and trust their every word.

We buy into their lifestyles and try to emulate them by swiping our cards every time they place a product in a selfie.

Little girls are being raised to seek self-love from men, relying on their counterparts to give them the worth they deserve.

They're being taught to be subordinate to the males in society instead of focusing on their own inner ambitions and desires.

Women are forced into culturally appointed jobs and lifestyles as glass ceilings box them into the corners of society.

The worst thing is we'll never even end up happy or satisfied with the self-worth we receive from these attachments.

We cling to them with the hope that, some day, things may be different — that there could be a light at the end of the tunnel.

But there is no silver lining when love is artificial.

Every single one of us experiences shame.

Women view each other as competition, fiercely casting shade at those whom they see unfit. Men size each other up to determine who is more physically able and masculine.

We're taught from a young age to slut-shame, fat-shame, skinny-shame and shame anyone who doesn't look, or walk, or talk exactly like us.

Individuality is the most shamed of all. People are put in boxes and told they can never leave them.

When we try to break out with some originality, whether it’s in our style, our personality, or our mindset, we're pinned back down and pushed further into our cages, smothered with humiliation and shame.

Being unique is not considered a quality attribution, even if that's what society would like us to believe.

Instead, the same mediocre standards are forced down our throats, and we're told that the same product repackaged in 45 million ways is original and authentic. 

Part of the reason we can't seem to break the shells that surround us is that we've been raised thinking we are already being an individual every time we buy into society's products and vacuous mindsets.

We're told that, if we buy the latest devices or clothes, we will stand out from the crowd.

Perhaps we will, but only because we have now momentarily climbed our social ladders and sat at the top of our social networks for a snap and a hundred likes.

We seek out the wrong forms of beauty and goals, and crush anyone else's we see as being different from ours.

Your self-worth is in yourself, not your selfie.

There's still a way for us to pull ourselves out from under the thumbs of a society that profits off our addiction and deprecation.

We can rid ourselves of the need to upload every moment in our life by placing an emphasis on the experience instead of the photograph.

Our love should come from the people we can touch and feel in person and not just double tap on a tablet. Our real hearts are the ones that should be sought for, rather than the ones that flash for a quick moment in front of us.

Love is something you can never fully document on a social media profile. We will never be able to receive the same reward, the same satisfaction from our devices and apps that we can from within our own hearts.

Once we understand our love and self-worth won't be found online, we can begin to unlock life's true potential.

We need to refocus our efforts on creating a beautiful life around us and not just on the World Wide Web.

We need to let go of the habits that continue to destroy us. We need to seek the love and beauty inside of us before we search for it somewhere else.

When we begin to see the beauty in ourselves before anything else, we'll learn how to see the rest of the world in that same way.