Get real time updates directly on you device, subscribe now.
By Smitakshi Guha
Social media has turned more friends into enemies (read: frenemies) than any World War could have.
What is that blatant lie you tell yourself everyday looking at your friends’ and acquaintances’ pictures on social media platforms like Instagram, Facebook, or Snapchat whenever you feel a tad bit of jealousy rise at the back of your mind, seeing pictures of them having a gala time at a happening place?
What is that tinge of insecurity you feel within you when you see some cozy pictures of your friends, who turned into a lovey-dovey couple, flaunting too much of PDA on their social media accounts?
What’s that unusual kind of envy that pops up in your head when you see an active travelogue from your friend with a plethora of pictures from new places every now and then?
If you haven’t faced any of the above mentioned instances even for a brief moment, then you are lying to yourself. That’s what social media does to you—judging people, and making opinions about them and their lifestyle based on their highlight reels.
It is common for people to take everything at its face value and quite obvious in believing what they see readily. But if that were supposed to the case, the way everything should be taken, then would there ever exist a phrase that says, “Everything is not what it seems?”
Consider a small example. You get a new haircut, a makeover, you feel extremely good about yourself and positive as well. The positivity you feel budding within you encourages you to take a picture and you happily share it with the world, in expectation of good feedback from others. This is of course one side of the story. The other side is certainly not as hunky dory as this one.
You feel reckless after a bad day at work, you feel like pulling your hair out in frustration, you still try to hold everything together and the moment you stand in front of the mirror and BAM! A big zit sitting right on your nose! Could the day BE anymore weirder? (Chandler style)
It is of course more than obvious that you would certainly not want to take a selfie and post it for the world to see on that particular day, when you are totally feeling all nasty, thanks to the messed up day altogether!
Then why is it so hard for us to comprehend the same when we look into others’ highlight reels on social media based on which we blatantly form opinions about them! A person putting up a happy selfie doesn’t mean his/her life is all merry. A person traveling too much and updating pictures from new places doesn’t mean his life is all smiles back at home. A couple putting up cozy pictures doesn’t mean they don’t ever indulge in fights.
Everybody has their own share of bad days, and why in their right mind would they even dare to share a sneak peak of their bad days when they are as messed up as you are, during your bad days?
Our social media accounts definitely put up a lot of us online for others to see, but hey, if it was ALL of oneself in one’s entirety, then why would the dictionary even have two separate words called Reality and Virtual?
We can put up as much of our life online, but the bottom line is that there’s always going to be a difference, sometimes marginal, and sometimes wide, between an individual’s personality on social media and in reality; and the sooner you accept this fact, the better it will be for you, and keep you from making highlight reels of others the fundamental highlight of your life.
–
Featured image source: ocregister