Social Media ... Social Prison

Iam_salamat liked your picture
@morenike_xx commented on your picture 'so cute'
@slay_erin mentioned you in a comment "@frozenfirenaija bae you look...."
No other notification can make me as happy as the above makes me. I would joyfully open my Instagram to check the number of likes i have successfully acquired on my picture because even though my mirror tells me everyday how beautiful i am, it never convinced me as much as seeing more than a hundred likes on a picture. It gives me a degree of satisfaction knowing my Mary-K foundation, Classic concealer and hours of searching for the right edit didn't go to waste .
  You might go about saying there's more to like than social media, you can deny it to everyone that you don't fancy public attention but you can't decieve yourself. You know you would be happier than you are if you were social media famous and probably wouldn't be bothered by this recession. If you had has many followers as Taylor swift and social media fans as Wizkid, committing suicide would be the last thing on your mind or maybe not even on your mind at all.

  "See your hairy armpit, learn to shave sister!"

was the comment a follower dropped on a picture of mine sometime ago. I was startled and pained, i looked at the picture i thought i had slayed in and even though my armpit was well shaved, i began to see strands of hair growing out of the contour of the pit, long thick black hair that could be braided! My mind was filled with wrong illusions of my body.
  The picture had gained three hundred likes and on summing it to the number of social skippers, lurkers and those who saw it on their explore an estimation of five hundred Instagram users had seen the picture. In shame, i opened the setting of the picture ready to delete it but before i could,  another notification popped above my screen.
@anonymous you are just an hater. it's a lovely picture. Armpit hair or not, can't you just mind your business?
   I hurriedly opened the comment and waited for the reply. My shame transformed into anxiety. An Instagram fight was about to begin. An almost endless exchange of insults went on between the critic and my other Instagram friends. I deleted the comment and let sleeping dogs lie
   I believe i am not the only one who has been a victim of social media predators. Just yesterday i saw a comment on @its.priscy ' s picture of her and @fhavor_ and the follower who had made a ridiculous emphasis on her boobs admitted he did that for attention before pleading on everyone who replied his nasty comment to download his song. It reminded me of a comment that trended on instagram when Tiwa savage posted the very first picture of her son. "ugly boy, looks like a monkey" harsh enough to make thunder strike the writer. Davido was also a victim of this madness when he posted a picture of his daughter and emotionally disturbed fans called her "ugly" and Toke Makinwa for a caption she wrote on a picture she posted on instagram "finally got my nails did"
  Those are examples of comments that does not only cause people to have low self esteem but had made them become anti social media because of fear of being pounced on by prying online critics. No one likes to be insulted because of their flaws and imperfections. No one likes to be slaughtered with words by freaks because they look better and have more followers.
   Why do we do this to one another? Can't we just be happy and appreciate one another?
   Can't we see like we don't have eyes?