When scrolling through your Instagram feed or watching Snapchat stories, it’s rare that the pictures aren’t posed or that the videos aren’t staged. Everyone knows that the person you see on social media almost always isn’t the same person you’ll see walking through the halls. If everyone understands this truth, why keep up the act?

Teens edit their photos and make sure they only post pictures from fun events or parties that they went to. They add a witty caption with an attempt to seem funnier than they are. Thousands of photo editing apps exist to ensure that you can present the best physical version of yourself in every photo. In reality there’s no point, considering everyone knows that you edited your photos and that you are only posting them because you look good. People who know you in real life know what you are actually like, so the act you put up on social media is of no use.

Still, most teenagers have a “finsta” or fake Instagram, where most people, ironically, post their most honest or real pictures and stories. In most cases, people make this account private and only let their closest friends follow them. But most people’s “rinsta,” or real Instagram, is public and where teens post their best, most fake, pictures. There should not be a distinction between the two. Your followers on Instagram should be your friends and you should post about your real self on all of your social media platforms.

Additionally, when all you see on your feed are perfect pictures, it puts increased pressure on you to do the same. Teenagers are already at an increased risk of anxiety and depression and reports show that the pressure of social media only adds to that. According to a report from Common Sense Media, teens aged 13-18 spend an average of nine hours online every day. Nine hours. That’s 37.5 percent of their day. Compare this to the seven hours teens normally spend at school, which only consumes about 29 percent of their day. If you’re spending that much time online seeing the best version of all of your classmates, you’ll feel the need to present the best version of yourself to them.

Nobody’s perfect. That’s a fact. It’s easy to think that everyone around you has their life put together, that everyone is having more fun, is more stylish, is prettier than you- is better. Instead of trying to obtain that level of perfection, realize that what is on social media is most often a blurred image of who someone really is. Stop trying to be perfect; start trying to be real.