She had over 600,000 followers on Instagram (with that number now risen to 900,000), 277,000 YouTube subscribers, and 60,000 on Snapchat, but 19-year-old Australian Essena O'Neill is quitting the platforms with a dramatic plea for others to do the same.
While being paid thousands of dollars to promote clothing on social media and having a successful modelling contract with IMG Models, O'Neill believes it is time to come clean about the truth behind her perfect-appearing profile.
On October 27, O'Neill deleted more than 2000 pictures and edited the captions on the 96 remaining pics to reveal the raw truth behind each shot. Exploring why, O'Neill explains: "Without realising, I've spent [the] majority of my teenage life being addicted to social media, social approval, social status and my physical appearance. Social media, especially how I used it, isn't real. It's contrived images and edited clips ranked against each other. It's a system based on social approval, likes, validation in views, success in followers. It's perfectly-orchestrated self-absorbed judgement.
"How can we see ourselves and our true purpose/talents if we are constantly viewing others? Many of us are in so deep we don't realise its delusional powers and the impact it has on our lives. It was never my conscious intention, but I deluded a lot of people... Call it deception, manipulation, lying, not saying the whole truth... I was both addicted to social approval and terrified no one would value me for myself.
"I want you to know that I once loved it. I loved the idea of being known. I loved the attention, the fame and money that followed. I was told that was what I wanted. I thought I needed it all. I was tricked. I thought I would be okay if I was safe, pretty and loved. I wasn't safe, I was caged. There is no safety in corporate control. I painted myself pretty, a doll all dressed up, ready for others to pull and poke. I wasn't loved, for how can anyone really love a facade?"
To help in her fight against living in a 2D world, O'Neill has launched a website called letsbegamechangers.com that allows her to be herself with no likes, views or followers - "just my content, as raw as I want". The site aims "to inspire constant questioning" and will feature “veganism, creative imagery with purpose, poems, writing, interviews with people that inspire me, and of course, the financial reality behind deluding people of Instagram”.
Image: Instagram.com/essenaoneill
