A picture is worth a thousand words, so I can only begin to wonder how costly a video is. Frame after frame of flawlessly edited perfection, I’ve too often found myself bewitched by its yellow-white glow, not quite silver like the screen but still painfully artificial in its own right. 

Or maybe I just need to get blue light glasses. And using light mode at night probably isn’t helping either (though its aesthetics are unbeatable—a debate for another time). Pesky details aside, I’ve noticed myself becoming increasingly obsessed with highlight reels, the enviable lovechild of aspirational vlogging and inspirational cinematography. It’s concerning, really, how much power we give it. The power to alter our moods and our perceptions, our expectations and our dreams. Everything and anything and whatever lies in between, all for the low low price of our sanity.

Okay, okay. So I’m being a little melodramatic. And I might be projecting some (oops!) so forgive me for that. But I’m convinced that highlight reels are the most powerful propaganda to ever exist. The GOAT, if you will. These simple, unassuming memo montage mashups love to show us how amazing life is for the rest of the world … and how pitiful ours is in comparison. It’s funny how we applaud them so, priding ourselves on curating the most perfectly perfect feeds and albums and stories for our followers, unintentionally setting up the same ruse that we fell for in the first place.

I totally get that highlight reels are just that—full of semi-real moments and memories, hand-picked to share (but really brag). How easy is it to go down the rabbit hole that is USC Tik Tok (#ChrisSutherlandcore), falling deeply and irrevocably in love with the idea of a school. No, too niche? Well how about a montage of your teenage years: an audio-visual masterpiece tempting you with clips of parties, lake houses, sleepovers, and road trips. Or edits of that place you’ve always wanted to live? LA or NYC, pick your poison. Even the laughable reels that romanticize careers (should we even glamorize work? food for thought) have particular sway on certain people. 

If you are so incredibly secure in yourself and your life, to the point that everything in this blog was super unrelatable, I admire you. But I’d also implore you to consider the brighter side of things. Highlight reels can be catalysts of change, bringers of beginnings, and motivators of momentum (can you tell I adore alliteration ;). Because I don’t turn to inspirational quotes or verbal encouragement when I feel my discipline falter, but rather my Instagram feed and the occasional Twitter post. I immerse myself in the fantasy, aware that I can never achieve it but emboldened to capture as much of it as I can. Like, I want to be “that girl” (the modern IT girl of the Internet) but I also know a perfectly flat stomach all day every day is anatomically improbable. So instead I’ll try to eat healthier and sleep earlier, spinning society’s propaganda to serve my own purposes. 

I’ll admit, highlight reels will never appear productive if you can’t acknowledge their flaws at large. But learn to separate illusion from reality, and low and behold, you now have a very powerful tool at your disposal. Doggedly chasing unrealistic ideals, unflinchingly impossible in their existence, is like shooting for the moon—even if you miss, you’ll land among the stars. So stop rationalizing and start romanticizing, it may take you farther than you could have ever imagined.