Depression Isn't Cool: Why Tumblr Should Be More Positive

Hi everyone. Today we are going to be discussing a favorite hangout of many teenagers on the internet: Tumblr. Just a warning, this will kind of be a little bit of a rant, so I'm just preparing you for that. 

I got a tumblr in, oh, eighth grade, so that was about five years ago. I used to like going on that site, a lot. But, after it got discovered by the masses of teenagers who use it these days, my dash started filling up with negative and melodramatic posts. Suddenly, I didn't want to go on tumblr because it made me feel as though life was bleak and worthless. There were pictures of people smoking literally all over the place and negative little quotes and messages that said things like "She wanted to die. She truly wanted to die." Lame. 

I plucked this gem off my dash yesterday. Is that depressing, or what? To me, it seems tumblr has become a breeding ground for loneliness and insecurity. Especially with the soft grunge trend that occurred recently, it seems there just can't be enough pictures of desperate looking girls covering their faces, wearing next to nothing, sitting in dark bedrooms, and generally just looking lonely and depressed. On top of that, most of these girls are stick thin. I understand rebellion, I understand punk, and I understand the attraction of being a badass. But the attitude on tumblr is more just like "We have nothing to fight for, let's just give up", and what if that's the attitude of our generation as a whole? Even fandom blogs leave a bitter taste in the mouth, with fans always saying things like "I wish it was real." and "Why can't I be you?". Tumblr is painting a portrait of our generation as insecure, hopeless, and ungrateful burnouts and dorks. 

The thing is that not one person can or should ever be classified this way. 

I'm not asking tumblr users to feel guilty about their emotions, and consequently, the content they post. Depression or even just general unhappiness can be a painful and crushing thing, and I won't ever deny that. What I am asking for is change. Depression, smoking, eating disorders, ingratitude, desperation, loneliness, and unhappiness are not cool. People aren't attracted to other people with those qualities. But if the main website you log onto is promoting nothing but those behaviors, it can be hard for them not to manifest in your life. 

These days, it hard for me to go on tumblr and not feel depressed. But rather than boycotting it all together, I thought, why not just try to make some positive change? May I introduce to you: my tumblr. I try to post things that make me happy, whether that's pictures of nature, or pictures of people smiling, or just pretty colors. My tumblr is all about spreading positivity and love, because everyone should have a little of those on their dash. For other positive tumblrs, here are two of my favorites: Free Love Movement, and Finding Peace Within Me. 

To those of you who are tumblr users and wish to help me make a change, join in with me! If you post anything positive, tag it #positive tumblr. I will be tracking the tag and reblogging a lot of the posts :) Thanks guys!