In your 20s, you must own a luxury car, live in an apartment, and have traveled to at least 15 countries. You must also work a 9-5, run six side hustles, hit the gym at 5 a.m., maintain perfect, glass skin, be in a relationship with someone equally successful, and somehow still have time to post aesthetic content daily. Oh, and if you are not doing all this by 25? You have failed.

Sounds exhausting? That is because it is a lie.

Our generation is the first to grow up with social media as our primary source of life advice, and honestly? We are tired, burnt out and anxious.

Feeling like failures because we believed viral content over reality. We have been fed a steady diet of highlight reels, rented luxury, and carefully curated "authenticity" until we cannot even tell what is real anymore.

This is where deinfluencing comes in — the counter-movement to question everything we have been sold. And trust me, we have been sold a lot.

Your 20s are supposed to be about learning, experimenting, trials and errors, and building foundation. Instead, social media has turned them into a performance where everyone is pretending they have already arrived. The pressure is breaking us.

So let us expose the lies. Here are seven viral narratives that are ruining our generation, the reality behind them, and what we should be doing instead.

LIE 1: THE "SOFT LIFE" DELUSION

Everyone wants the 'soft life,' and Instagram makes it look like everyone is living it. Scroll for five minutes and you will see a 20-year-old in Zanzibar while your last vacation was to Olumo Rock — that was an excursion in your secondary school, the struggles.

But what most of them don’t tell you is that their mantra is “fake it till you make it”. And the fakeness is glaring if you look closely and ignore the pressure you might be feeling.

That Lekki penthouse? Airbnbed for content day. That Benz? Rented. The designer everything? Either fake or from a "sponsor" they will never mention.

Real soft life takes time to build and most of the time not in your 20s, but the gram will not wait.

Instead, define soft life on your terms. Maybe it is being debt-free or having three months' savings. Build that quietly,the aesthetic will come later.

LIE 2: YOU NEED SIX SIDE HUSTLES

Check any Instagram bio, you’d probably see: "CEO | Entrepreneur | Creative Director | Crypto Trader | Realtor." Everyone is running a conglomerate from their phone.

The pressure is real. If you are not juggling five income streams, are you even trying?

The economy is not helping and you low-key understand these “CEOs”.

The truth is that most of those "CEOs" are not making as much as you think they are across all six hustles combined. They are burned out, unfocused, and not actually building wealth. Jack of all trades, master of none does not always pay well.

My advice? Master one valuable skill deeply first. Your side hustle should add to your life, not drain it. Rest is not lazy, it is strategic.

LIE 3: CRYPTO/FOREX IS YOUR TICKET OUT

"I made $5000 in one week. Join my Telegram." The screenshots look convincing.

Your guy from secondary school is suddenly posting dollar bills and talking about financial freedom. You see the WhatsApp groups promising to teach you the strategy.

Reality? These people make money from your course fees, not trading. 90% of retail traders lose money, but they only show you the wins. Those screenshots? Fake or from demo accounts.

If forex was that profitable, why are they desperately recruiting you? Learn actual financial literacy. Invest in safer options. Be suspicious of anyone selling you a dream.

LIE 4: YOUR PARTNER MUST TICK ALL THE BOXES

"He must have a car, own property, take you on vacations." "She must be a 10/10, submissive, and add value." Relationship advice has become a material checklist, and good people are being overlooked because they do not have a Benz yet.

Most people in their 20s are still building, including you. Relationships built on transactions do not last beyond the money running out. Instead, look for character, ambition, and compatibility. You can build together. Your partner is not a status symbol or a flex for Instagram.

LIE 5: IF YOU HAVE NOT "JAPA'D," YOU ARE LOSING

"Japa or perish" has become the motto. Everyone is relocating, and social media makes it seem like Nigeria is suffering and abroad is automatic paradise.

Your friends are posting from London, and you are here feeling left behind.

But here is what they are not posting: working three care jobs with a master's degree, dealing with racism, the cold, and crippling loneliness. Japa doesn’t translate to automatic success. Some people are building empires here while others are struggling there.

As much as japa is valid, it is not the only path. Do proper research beyond Instagram highlights.

Build valuable skills first. Success does not have a single geography.

LIE 6: THIS PRODUCT WILL FIX YOUR SKIN IN THREE DAYS

The before-and-afters look amazing. That influencer's skin is glowing. They swear this serum changed their life in 72 hours. You buy it. Nothing happens. You feel scammed. The cycle repeats.

That is because those transformations could be filtered, different lighting, and sometimes pure lies. Real skincare takes months of consistency. Normal skin has texture and pores. The Internet has successfully gaslit us into thinking filtered skin is the standard.

Stick to your dermatologist-recommended basics — sunscreen, cleanser, moisturizer. Be patient. Learn to spot filters. Your skin does not need to be perfect to be beautiful.

LIE 7: YOU SHOULD HAVE IT ALL FIGURED OUT BY 25

Those "30 Under 30" lists have brought about young founders everywhere. Your coursemate just got promoted while you are still trying to understand what you even want to do. The timeline anxiety is choking you.

But most successful people had years of grinding you did not see. Your 20s are for experimenting and learning, not arriving. Many who "made it young" had family money, connections, or luck they never mention. And honestly? Most people do not have it figured out, they just pretend better.

Your timeline is yours alone. Use your 20s to try things, fail, learn, and pivot. Growth over comparison always.

THE TRUTH

These seven lies are creating impossible standards that leave us stressed, burned out, and feeling inadequate. But you are not failing, you have just been sold unrealistic expectations packaged as motivation.

Deinfluencing is not about giving up on ambition. It is about redefining success realistically. Your 20s are for building foundation, not showcasing finished products.

So audit your feed. Unfollow accounts that make you feel like trash. Have honest conversations about struggles, not just wins. Define success on your terms, not Instagram's.

The best life is not the most viral one. It is the one that is sustainable, honest, and actually yours.

Which lie hit hardest for you?