Carissa Walford is fed up with playing dumb

AS television host, producer and journalist Carissa Walford learnt the hard way, social media too often celebrates the shallow rather than the smart.

Carissa Walford: “Recently I did a cull on social media, where I went through and unfollowed people who didn’t fit with me mentally.” (Pic: Flavio Brancaleone)

AS television host, producer and journalist Carissa Walford learnt the hard way, social media too often celebrates the shallow rather than the smart.

Back when I first started working on television, social media wasn’t a prominent platform — you would become known from being on TV, not from being on social media which then got you on television. It almost sounds like I’m talking about TV from 200,000 years ago! It was only 2011. But that’s where I came from. I love how old school it is and I love the credibility of it.

At first, it was a bit of a struggle for me to try to adapt to social media and find out where I fit. I want everything I do to be super unique and also have substance to it. I would rather be spectacular for a small or decent following than average for hundreds of thousands of people, which is what I feel social tends to be — it is a bit of a sea of same-same.

“At first, it was a bit of a struggle for me to try to adapt to social media and find out where I fit.”

Back then, I also found it hard to deal with the fact that girls with hundreds of thousands of followers were getting gigs I was going for. I couldn’t help but wonder: “Where’s the skill there? How do they just get these roles? Do I now have to wear a bikini?”

It felt like there was no rhyme or reason behind it, except that these people had a lot of followers on social media. I wondered if I had to dumb myself down to be a part of the crowd and to get the jobs I wanted.

Thank god everyone is breaking away from that “perfection” façade on Instagram now, even people with profiles. I can really feel a positive change online. People want to make affirmative changes and use their voices for good. For a while, everyone was on a downward spiral where they were not living in the present. They were trying to keep up with appearances and that was setting a really bad example for the 22 and 23-year-olds who were trying to figure out where they belong. I sound like Oprah, don’t I?

Carissa Walford features in this week’s issue of Stellar.

It is important to get off social media once in a while, even if it is just for one day a month. We tend to feel validated with the “likes” and comments we get, which is not healthy. Detoxing from time to time seems to be a simple answer — but it does work.

My partner doesn’t have any social media accounts at all and I’m grateful. A lot of friends say to me, “I just want to find a boyfriend like yours who’s not on Instagram. I can’t deal with it anymore, I feel like every guy I meet is self-obsessed.” I think social media usage is the same for men as it is for women — the selfies, the instant gratification and the validation.

Recently I did a cull on social media, where I went through and unfollowed people who didn’t fit with me mentally; or who made me compare myself and my life to theirs, and spiral into that thought pattern of, “I need to do more, why haven’t I done that?” I decided to only follow people who lift my spirits, who inspire and motivate me. There are many of those kinds of people on social media, which makes me very happy.

I feel I’ve finally started to find my feet as a journalist and media identity. I can be real on my social media channels, and I think people want substance and authenticity more than ever before.

Oh look, I sound like Oprah again.

Carissa is a TV presenter; carissawalford.com.au.

Originally published as Carissa Walford is fed up with playing dumb