Teen model: ‘Everything I did was for likes’

Gabby Epstein, an Instagram star and bio-medical student, has also defended social media, writing that while it is an edited version of life, it’s still real.

“[It] is a trickier business because many of us assume that what we are seeing is somehow more “authentic”, she told the ABC.

Ms O’Neill (left) bared her soul to the world in a series of emotional videos critiquing social media from a young person’s perspective.

“I had “the dream life” to a lot of people”, O’Neill said in a followup vlog.

‘However, that doesn’t mean I have ever pretended to be someone that I am not on Instagram’. “I wish they would have come to me personally, not share intimate details of my life”. That balance is what makes my position in the space healthy to me.

“How will I spread my message? That’s true, and the people who were around you at the time in LA know it”. To a lot of people, I made it. I was signed, I’m still technically signed with – and I don’t want to model at all anymore – one of the biggest agencies in Australia. “Either way, it is going to be a roller-coaster ride to the truth, so watch this space”. I’ve developed a thick skin to cope with the hate because there’s so much more positive that overweighs the negative, and I am genuinely obsessed with what I do.

“My point is, getting here wherever I am, this like half-a-million mark, or whatever, it does nothing”. It was never my intention to be looked up to; I was creating videos and doing what I wanted to do because I was having fun. I am the same Lauren Giraldo that I was at 30 followers, and I’m confident my supporters/subscribers can attest to this.

The wall behind me was nowhere near that white, I used a teeth whitening filter to achieve the bright whiteness of the wall. I also edited out a pimple on my forehead, but that doesn’t change the fact that I had fun taking this picture.

But O’Neill, who deleted her Instagram account on Wednesday, insisted her decision was about wanting to be transparent, not because of her personal life, on her Let’s Be Game Changers website.

I support the idea that brands/organizations should value a creator’s opinions and creativity.

“I no longer want to spend hours and hours of my time scrolling, viewing and comparing myself to others”, she said. It’s quite another for her to turn around and ask for money because she quit her soul-killing (if glamorous) job without a backup plan.

The key to finding happiness in any job is to be transparent with everyone around you. I did not choose this face or this body and I have learned to live with it and love it and celebrate it and adorn it with tremendous drawings from the greatest artists in the world and I feel good and powerful like a nation that has never been free and now after many hard won victories is finally f***ing free. The best way to do this is to put out what you actually care about, whether the public likes it or not. “It’s insane how much social media consumes us – myself included – sometimes”.

Essena O’Neil, 18, wants other to know that the life depicted in pictures is not what it seems. “‘Is it possible that what we’re seeing is not a genuine endorsement?'”. It’s what we do with these apps that defines our authenticity. You attacked other people by saying that they’re fake and deceiving others. It certainly appears to be a lucrative career path, with those who gain a following on the social image sharing site able to land product placement deals worth thousands of dollars, earning more than a few people do in an entire month just by posting one image of them wearing a pair of TopShop jeans, or sipping on a weight loss shake.