How social media made her miserable

After she quit her youtube channel and other accounts she decided to make a website to expose everything or something like that (I think.. not sure) She wrote this on her new website

"It's undeniable that women are widely used as sexual objects, that are repeatably exploited to make profits."

This is her website..

www.letsbegamechangers.com

I think I saw something about her quitting recently, but didn't fully remember why. I'm glad that she's much happier after she quit social media; she's right that a person's worth isn't in their number of followers, or their number of views on social media, though it can be easy for anyone to lose sight of that. She was focusing on what her audience wanted her to be, instead of who she really is, but I'm glad she broke free from that.

Nearly all of the online interaction I have with others is on forums, so I'm not very versed in social media. I like forums for allowing and encouraging in-depth discussions, and a sense of community I couldn't find anywhere else, but on social media, I've heard of some people having thousands of followers or "friends", but never talk to them. Those numbers are meaningless.

I agree!

@Admin wrote:I think I saw something about her quitting recently, but didn't fully remember why. I'm glad that she's much happier after she quit social media; she's right that a person's worth isn't in their number of followers, or their number of views on social media, though it can be easy for anyone to lose sight of that. She was focusing on what her audience wanted her to be, instead of who she really is, but I'm glad she broke free from that.

Nearly all of the online interaction I have with others is on forums, so I'm not very versed in social media. I like forums for allowing and encouraging in-depth discussions, and a sense of community I couldn't find anywhere else, but on social media, I've heard of some people having thousands of followers or "friends", but never talk to them. Those numbers are meaningless.

I also concur! As a loner who's protective of her privacy, I keep my online presence low, and am not involved in social media either. It seems some people can't live their lives without an audience.

As a vegan, I did follow Essena on Youtube/Instagram, not very much but I liked to keep up with her videos from time to time. I was really shocked when she decided to quit, it was a huge drama in the vegan community. 

I just came across this video here: 




Where she talks about sexualising herself as a young teen to gain approval from others and how unhealthy/harmful it is to promote sexualized images to young girls. 

Something that really stood out to me is where she says something like, "and you're looking at these images and they don't even shock you but I was 14, 15 and 16 years old." 

It's really a powerful video to me. It's posted on a "fake" youtube account under her name, but I'm really glad I got to see it.

I didn't know who she was until I saw the video about why she quit social media. The video was shown on the first page on youtube (I think) I was disgusted with all the negative comments and videos by people about why she "really" left social media. Those people are just jealous because she was strong enough to leave slavery. Now she is free! Unless she is chased by crazy people and paparazzi..

It's sad that she had objectified herself to gain others' approval. I hadn't heard of her until I saw a post on another website about why she had quit. I didn't see the negative comments or any of the surrounding drama, but I can't be surprised that happened. She wanted to be her own person but so many people wanted her to stay in a role that was making her miserable so that their image of their idol wouldn't be ruined.