Instagram Star Reveals The Sad Truth Behind Social Media

There's no denying it's the age of the Insta-star, with a new generation of everyday people becoming instant celebrities thanks to their carefully curated Instagram feeds.

These stars can, and do make hundreds if not thousands of dollars of a single post alone.

One such star was 18-year-old Aussie Essena O'Neill, who went from relative obscurity to amassing a following of over half a million people on Instagram ( as well as the 200,000 on YouTube and Tumblr and 60,000 on her Snapchat).

However last week O'Neill decided she was done with social media.

RELATED: Study Says Snapchat Is The Happiest Form Of Social Media

Deleting some 2000 photos, she changed the name of her account to "Social Media Is Not Real Life", and edited captions on her old photos to reveal the truth behind the photos, the price she was paid to pose with the products in them and the extreme lengths she went to get the 'perfect' shot.

"Without realising, I've spent majority of my teenage life being addicted to social media, social approval, social status and my physical appearance," she writes.

"Social media, especially how I used it, isn't real. It's contrived images and edited clips ranked against each other. It's a system based on social approval, likes, validation in views, success in followers. It's perfectly orchestrated self absorbed judgement. I was consumed by it. I spent majority of my day aimlessly scrolling, hours on YouTube... "

"How can we see ourselves and our true purpose/talents if we are constantly viewing others? Many of us are in so deep we don't realise it's delusional powers and the impact it has on our lives. There's a select few photos I left here, half are original captions that I believe to be educational, the other half are photos that deluded you."

"It was never my conscious intention, but I deluded a lot of people...Call it deception, manipulation, lying, not saying the whole truth... I was both addicted to social approval and terrified no one would value me for myself. So I rewrote the captions of these false photos with short shots of reality. "

As well as bringing to light the reality of what goes into an Instagram post, O'Neill has also made a video detailing how people make money off social media, and she says she will now put her attention to Vimeo, where she will continue to post things she feels are of purpose and genuine intent, and because of its "positive and value based ranking, not likes or followers or BS ads".

RELATED: Why Instagram Is Bad For Body Image

"There's no likes or views or followers there. Just my content as raw as I want. It's all going to be free of course. My main vegan videos will still be on YouTube, but Vimeo will host all the new quality content. Made to help not to get views or $$$."

"I was so caught up in it all. P.S when the new form of social sharing comes out, something that doesn't revolve around likes and views but based on similar topics/quality for example, I will see you there, whenever that day comes.... We must create change."

"BUT PLEASE CAN SOMEONE MAKE A SOCIAL SHARING PLATFORM NOT BASED ON VALIDATION IN VIEWS/FOLLOWERS/LIKES BUT SHARED FOR REAL VALUE AND LOVE. THANK YOU. PLEASE HURRY UP."

RELATED: Do You Have Instagram Envy?