Facebook is fascinating. We use it to connect with other people and to share how we are doing, yet it still gives us a warped view of reality. Now I can't speak for everyone, but I would assume that many people post their ideal lives on Facebook. They announce all the exciting news and the joyful moments to celebrate, but once hard times hit they quiet down. We seldom can understand what others are going through scrolling through their Facebook wall.
I will even admit to this. Last Friday I got engaged to my fiancé, and naturally Facebook was the medium I chose to let most people know. We posted pictures, I wrote a blog post, and my notifications exploded. We received a lot of incredibly validating feedback. Which was awesome. Well, since he proposed his car has broken down twice and I have been facing some of my most stressful academic days of my life. Did I post all that on Facebook?
Of course not! Why ruin the joy of the moment by posting a complaint? I want everyone to see that I am still happy. Because I certainly am! I've never been happier. Doesn't mean I'm not incredibly stressed or that my life is perfect, though. Which is what we tend to see when we scroll others' Facebook pages. We see what is on the surface, but we rarely see the difficult challenges that are going on back stage. Some people are incredibly open with their challenges on Facebook. I, however, tend to keep those to myself.
So this post is just a little reminder to never compare your life with the life you see someone else living on Facebook. Because you are only seeing a piece of reality.
This is so true! People usually only post the good things that happen in their lives. It's so easier to think our lives are so terrible when looking on Facebook because we compare to other people.
ReplyDeleteAmen on this! I rarely see much negativity on Facebook, and if there is one or two comments about how horrible things are, they usually never go into detail! It's usually something like, "I wish it was tomorrow instead of today." lol
ReplyDeleteYeah this is so true. It's so tricky... You want people to know that you are a normal person with challenges, but you also don't want to exploit those challenges online because a) nobody likes whiners on FB and b) we tend to be more private about our them. Its hard to create a real perception of yourself when all we post is the good. It's a good reminder though, that most people are in the same boat.
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