Social Media & Unrealistic Standards

Hey everyone, welcome back to Blogs with Fidele!

It’s been a while sorry y’all. No one told me about the procrastination that comes with having a blog😩Anyways I’m back and today I wanted to talk about social media’s high expectations for people and how it can be discouraging in today’s day and age.

Personally, I feel as if there are high social expectations on social media regarding where people should be at certain ages in their life that can be quite intimidating.

Let me explain what I mean by that.

We’re all exposed to people on social media reaching milestones at certain ages, because they were fortunate enough to have the luxury of money, which not everyone has access to.

For instance, why is it frowned upon to still live at home at a certain age? Or why is it expected for people to be able to afford every designer item under the planet in order to fit in with society?

In this economy with this cost of living, it’s understandable if people are not where they want to be in life. However on social media, influencers posting about their luxurious life can be daunting. It makes the rest of us feel as if we aren’t doing enough if we perhaps haven’t achieved some of the goals that they might have. 

For instance, former Love Island star Molly Mae has accomplished a lot before the age of 25. After her journey on Love Island, she became an ambassador for Pretty Little Thing. She then launched her own tanning company (Filter by Molly-Mae) alongside working with a range of different companies doing sponsorship deals. Towards the end of 2024, she released her own documentary on Amazon Prime (Molly-Mae: Behind It All) as well launching a clothing brand (Maebe).

So you could say she’s accomplished a lot and is extremely successful at only age 25.

Consumers are bound to compare their lives with what they see on social media. It may be discouraging to see all the achievements influencers have achieved in their lifetime, whilst viewers at home might’ve not achieved anything as great as that or may only be at the beginning of their journey.

However, although it’s easier said than done, we shouldn’t be so hard on ourselves as Molly Mae had the luxury of having her career take off after being on Love Island.

Do we all remember Molly Mae’s ‘Beyoncé’s got the same 24 hours in a day that we do’? 

The backlash she received from that🤣I meannnnn she’s got a point (to an extent of course) but then again it’s unfair for her to say that because not everyone has been blessed with the same opportunities Beyoncé has faced in her lifetime.

At the end of the video she says ‘I’ve worked my absolute arse off’. No one’s saying she hasn’t. But did Love Island play a huge role in her success? Absolutely, there’s no denying it.

You might be the same age as Molly Mae, but your life may look completely different to hers. Instead, you might be studying at university, living at home, struggling to find a job, you might have a business that isn’t booming the way you’d like.

But I’m here to say that, that’s okay!

Just because your lives look different doesn’t mean that it isn’t still a success. Don’t let social media convince you otherwise. 

I’m not saying that being that rich and successful aren’t impossible goals to have, because they’re not, it can happen. 

However, It’s also important to consider the fact that these goals aren’t easy for standard people to reach. We’ve not all had the luxury of gaining millions of followers on social media or working hand in hand with one of the most popular fashion companies. 

It’s not impossible to have a successful clothing brand by age 25, but we would have to work 10x harder to get to where Molly Mae is.

And that’s what we need to remember. Just because someone has reached a certain goal in their life at a certain age doesn’t mean you need to do so at the same age.

Life isn’t a race. There’s still time and a whole range of achievements we have yet to achieve. So don’t beat yourself up if you’re 18 still looking for a job or 21 without a car. Your time will come.

We might be 4 months into the year, but there’s still time for opportunities. So start that business, start posting content, start your driving lessons, start going to the gym!

You can’t be ‘late’ in your own life, live it at your own pace.

Thanks for reading🥰And until next timeeee <3