Did you know you were free?

There's this one topic that's been tickling my mind lately for quite some time, and in the light of certain recent events even more so. And the question is - why do we, as women, accept and live up to certain stereotypes? That's a question that is not asked often enough, if at all. On the other hand, what we do hear very often are complaints about women being objectified, women not being treated equal to men and so on. Now, don't get me wrong, I am a feminist by definition. But as a woman and feminist, it saddens me to see what most women set up as their goals and what they aspire to.

 I would dare to say that women of today are quite shallow. Just walk into any drugstore and you'll see that 95% of the beauty and vanity products are designed for women. Yet, there's this popular opinion that this role is somehow imposed on us by the society. That's where we get to 'certain recent events' I mentioned - Essena O'Neil story that went viral. Essena, in her dramatic video confession advocates that social media is 'evil' and somehow it 'makes' you design yourself and your life to be likeable. Honestly, I can't agree on that. We are all free to choose our own aspirations. We are free to choose our idols. To set our own goals. Never have I ever felt the pressure to do my full make-up every single morning, and take pictures in order for people to like me. If I did feel that way, I would consider myself an unstable person.

no signal

Some time ago, I went to a shopping mall with my friend and, as it usually happens, we ended our tour in a restaurant, with coffee and snacks. Now one thing I love to do is watch people and their behavior (not in a stalky way, I promise!), and the first person I noticed was a girl that sat right across me. A teenager, all made up, heels and all, on a date with her boyfriend who was going out of his way to cater to her, bringing her food, holding her chair, and generally being a total cavalier (thumbs up for that fella)! What was wrong with that picture was the fact that the entire time during their meal, she was ignoring him and scrolling through her phone, Facebook or something. It wasn't the first time for me to wonder how on earth can someone find their phone more interesting than a human being (especially the one who took them on a date)? I glanced across the restaurant, and started counting people who had a company but instead socialized with their phones. At 15 I stopped counting because that was more than half... it was just sad.

Let's be honest here, I had more than a few days that consisted of instagram, twitter, facebook, blogger, bloglovin, whatsapp, over and over again. Usually those were procrastinating times, when I tried to avoid studying. However, at the end of the day I would literally feel nauseous from looking at the screen the entire day, and my head felt empty, but not in a good way but rather like some programmed robot. Not fun! Days like that were usually followed by days when I would keep myself away from computer and only pick up my phone if necessary. That's how sick the internet made me feel!

It's scary to think about consequences of modern life and internet abuse. Memory deterioration, loss of social skills, lack of drive and motivation in real life, attention disorder, and so on and so on! These things shouldn't be taken lightly, but usually are!

I know the aforementioned apps along with internet in general are the easiest way to entertain yourself in your leisure time, but that certainly isn't the most fulfilling and most satisfying way! Take it from someone who's brand is closely tied to internet - it is the only market for what I do - but my honest advice to you would be to turn off your wifi from time to time, and have fun in old school way! Let your thoughts flow free, without all those notifications constantly interrupting them. Think, talk, sing, take a walk without phone in your hand! Live in reality! I'll meet you there! <3