Unsociable Media

Social media right now is unarguably a massive part of everyone’s lives. Just today I nearly bumped into four different people because their eyes were more focussed on their screens than the potentially dangerous obstacles heading towards them (I swear I would have turned dangerous if there was one more!) Having just set up a blog, arguably I am going to come across as slightly hypocritical if I say that social media is a complete distraction and useless within our daily lives. However, rather than suggesting it is overused, I would like to say it is definitely overrated.

Yes, okay, so I have Facebook, twitter, Instagram, Pinterest (need I go on?) accounts, and yes I do like to check them as soon as I wake up, just before I go to bed, and at several times during the day besides! Social media, obviously has numerous benefits, and living hundreds of miles away from several of my friends, it is nice to see how they’re doing, and what they’re doing, and how they’re doing it….. Okay, maybe it is a bit excessive?

The main criticism I have for social media sites is the superficiality it places on daily life. Suddenly, everyone in the world becomes someone with an exciting and fun-filled life, with pictures and posts that prove they never have a moment’s boredom. My question is how self-worth can be measured by a number; the number of likes on your post, or the number of cute photos you post with your friends. If social media is to be a true representation of our daily lives then maybe we should post about the bad times too- the times when we felt ugly or when we felt alone. But these are sides we wish to keep from the world. Yet, through extenuating only the good times, we leave others to believe we have no bad times. If we are so amazing that we have no bad times, does that not then make everyone who does, less than amazing? No, because everyone has both ups and downs, it’s just that those group photos and shared albums force us to forget that fact.

Social media is an amazing tool for connection and communication- I would never argue the fact. What we cannot forget however, the next time you happen to scroll through your newsfeed is that nobody’s life is as perfect as their profile picture.