Here Are Some Tips To 'Stay Real' In An Instagram World

Raise your hand if you have ever been personally victimised by social media. I know I have. I’m butt hurt by social media more days than not. What begins as an innocent scroll of Instagram usually ends in me questioning my worth, my appearance and the state of my house (how the f*** do you keep your house so damn tidy when you have 70 children @i’mtheperfectmumaccordingtomyinstagram!?). Facebook on the other hand is just straight up mean. If you feel like being bullied by bored people with opinions I recommend making a comment on a post in your local Facebook Community Board. Or if you’re in the mood for developing some PNDA symptoms you can always make a suggestion in your local Facebook Mum group! So much support! No judgey Mum’s there!

But, this is our world. Social media is our world. It has the potential to spread awareness, save the planet and create movements but unfortunately the only thing it’s currently spreading is a girl in bike shorts posing with protein powder. It’s a fake world. But one we are so damn deep in. Once upon a time the word influencer referred to somebody who had an impactful and inspiring influence on a large group of people. Nowadays it refers to the number of followers that you have and how many paid sponsorships you do with a weight-loss lollypop.

Very few people are taking responsibility for the influence that they have. The beauty of social media is that anybody and everybody has an influence. Whether you have 150 followers or 150K followers, the moment you post something or share something to those people you are influencing them. 150 may not seem like a lot of followers, but when else do you have the opportunity to speak to that many people? We’ve all been gifted this incredible tool- but what are we doing with it?

I had the pleasure of chatting to the gorgeous Brooke Styles. She is an Instagram Influencer who recently recognised her impact and decided she had a responsibility to use her influence for good. She was sick of feeling like shit. And it broke her heart knowing that so many of her followers were fooled and affected by the fake Instagram world. So she stopped posting photos of all her best angles, stopped using Photoshop to blur her gorgeous skin and used her captions as an opportunity to be vulnerable and honest about her struggles with mental health.

Not surprisingly- it went the heck off. Girls and boys from all around the world started sighing in relief knowing that they were not alone in their self-hate. It shed light on how serious this epidemic truly is but also how possible it is for us to change it. Alas, the Full Of Love club was born! Love child of Brooke herself, Full Of Love Club quickly (like, two days quickly) went from being just an Instagram page to a touring event. An event that welcomes anyone and everyone! An event that promotes self-love and true empowerment! An event that I heard along the grapevine has a really great/attractive/good-at-slut-dropping guest speaker at the Brisbane event (the rumours are true).

Have a listen to our incredible chat! Where we get juicy about the world of Influencers, discuss where we are taught self-hate and chat about how even us plebs (me, I’m a pleb) can be a huge part of the change. Also, make sure you check out what Brooke Styles in up to at @brookestyles and keep up to date with the Full Of Love Club and it’s upcoming events at @fullofloveclub.

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