I’m 20, and a sophomore in college at USC, where there is a hypercharged culture in which beauty and social ranking are highlighted as important. Here, most girls live through Instagram, including my friends. We go out to take photos, comment on one another’s photos in some thinly veiled attempt to have that reciprocated, and judge one another by their likes, comments, followers, etc. I am someone who enjoys using Instagram for the most part— I get to keep in touch with people, form (albeit somewhat superficial) friendships, and get external validation from the interactions I have on it. The issue is, I feel like I haven’t been true to myself and have gotten so wrapped up in this culture that I’m losing parts of myself. It’s exhausting to keep up. At the same time though, I definitely have an addiction to social media. Between Instagram (a main account and a private one where I post more honest stuff/rants, etc) Snapchat, and Twitter, I’m always toggling between apps. Lately I’ve felt super disappointed with the quality of my friendships— i often find myself wondering how many of my ‘friends’ genuinely care for me. The issue is that I am aware that a) quitting cold turkey would be difficult and I might be setting myself up for disappointing in myself, and b) I do derive self-worth and validation largely externally from social media. I know it’s not healthy at all, but it seems to have become the norm. And I’m afraid of missing out and some of my friendships deteriorating without constant interaction on social media. Is there a middle ground? Should I delete it, at least temporarily? And how have you all’s experiences with social media, especially Instagram, been?