Not only did Kylie Jenner have to go through puberty on screen since the first episode of Keeping Up With The Kardashians debuted, but she also ended up making a lot of sacrifices due to her fame — like missing her high school prom. A new clip from her upcoming show, Life of Kylie, highlights the effect that this had on the reality star in a conversation with her stylist. Since she was homeschooled at the time of her prom and couldn't attend, Jenner unfollowed all of her school friends on social media so she wouldn't see their prom pictures. This might sound extreme, but it was actually a wise choice for the then-teenage star.
After all, spending time on social media and comparing your own life to others' can negatively affect your self-esteem. And, according to a 2016 study by the University of Pittsburgh Center for Research on Media, Technology and Health, the more social media platforms you use, the more likely you are to suffer from anxiety and depression. Yes, it does seem silly to think about Kylie Jenner as the one in her friend group with low self-esteem considering her fame and fortune. However, when you think about what an important milestone prom is in an adolescent's life, it makes sense that she couldn't bear to look at the pictures of her friends having fun at the event. FOMO happens to everyone, and it can actually fuel your anxiety to think that your friends are having more fun, and experiencing better lives than you are, in your absence — whether that's actually true or not.
In fact, Jenner has previously spoken about how social media creates a skewed picture of who she is. In a 2016 interview with Adweek, Jenner discussed how misrepresentative a person's social media persona can be.
"You can't really tell who a person is from, like, an eight-second Snapchat video or an Instagram. I only post on Instagram or Snapchat what I want people to see, you know? But there's a whole other side to me that people don't know."
Given her confession that she unfollowed her friends so as not to the see high school experience she was missing is further proof that she understands how social media is not something to cling to. It's good to know when to unplug, unfollow, and focus on what's going on in your real life when you're getting too bogged down by the carefully selected photos that people post online.
"It was really sad, actually. I had to unfollow all my friends that I went to school with," she said in the clip. "They probably all thought I hated them, but I just couldn't see it... It just made me sad." (Of course, for Jenner, focusing on reality probably entails enjoying a yacht vacation, so maybe don't feel too sorry for her.)
At least it looks like Kylie did end up getting to go to a prom, if not her own, which we'll see in the upcoming season of Life of Kylie. But this missing piece of her upbringing really does show a new side to the reality star, one that many people can relate to — even if they don't have a yacht.
