Rohit Roy makes a strong point about social media pressure

MUMBAI: Rohit Roy is one of the most successful actors on television. The actor took to his Instagram page and shared a very heartfelt post about the perils of the pressure of social media validation. The story began, as per Rohit, when he was invited for a Ted Talks event in Ahmedabad. School kids came up to him shared their social media horror stories. He revealed that ‘A young boy was thinking of taking hormones (at 16!!) coz another kid from his school has posted a bare body picture n he felt inadequate.’

That was just the tip of the iceberg. The actor shared two more accounts of kids facing social media pressure. To talk some sense into these malleable little souls, the actor shared his own truth. In a brave post, the actor put up two shirtless pictures—one what he is for showbiz and the other that is the real him.

Rohit, further wrote in his post, ‘I’m so so saddened with this as I am also a father n my girl has just turned 16. I feel compelled to share this piece with all you kids out there.’

He added, ‘Firstly, social media is nothing but looking at life through rose tinted glasses.. people usually exaggerate to make the post sound better and photoshop pictures to make themselves look nicer.. so please , DO NOT base your life on what is being put out there.. make real connections, not digital ones.. secondly, going for a foreign holiday by burning a hole in your fathers pocket is absolutely foolish n useless (sic).’

And finally driving the point home, he wrote, ‘No one puts a picture of a misshapen body out there.. only their best angles.. so do not get disturbed that your appearance doesn’t hold up (sic).’

Check out Rohit's awe-inspiring post here.

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On my recent trip to Ahmedabad for a Ted talk, I met with a bunch of young millennials , hardly 15-16, n I was disturbed by some of the stories I heard.. a lot of them suffered from depression caused by social media.. one of them felt so terribly left out of what her friends were up to after school and on their vacays that the poor kid refused to come out of her room for days.. a young boy was thinking of taking hormones (at 16!!) coz another kid from his school has posted a bare body picture n he felt inadequate.. yet another one tried her best to force her parents to take her to a ‘foreign’ holiday simply because her friends were going.. when they didn’t/couldn’t, she developed a fever!!! Couple of them admitted to getting anxiety attacks because of social media pressure... one of them had it so bad that he needed intervention from a psych !! I’m so so saddened with this as I am also a father n my girl has just turned 16. I feel compelled to share this piece with all you kids out there.. firstly, social media is nothing but looking at life through rose tinted glasses.. people usually exaggerate to make the post sound better and photoshop pictures to make themselves look nicer.. so please , DO NOT base your life on what is being put out there.. make real connections, not digital ones.. secondly, going for a foreign holiday by burning a hole in your fathers pocket is absolutely foolish n useless.. Travel is fantastic but within your means and there is so much one can see in India.. our country’s diversity will blow your mind finally, understand this.. no one puts a picture of a misshapen body out there.. only their best angles.. so do not get disturbed that your appearance doesn’t hold up.. celebrate what you have.. I’m still in shock at these reasons for young ones like yourselves getting panic attacks because of social media .. I beg you to live in the real world with real joy and real problems.. to cite an example , I’ll post a picture which no actor will put out but I hope it helps you understand my point.. This picture is what I must be coz my profession demands it.. swipe left and see what I look like on my breaks! Don’t let social media consume you!

A post shared by Rohit Roy (@rohitroy500) on Feb 24, 2019 at 11:04pm PST