We live in an age that has completely gone digital. Our memories are shared online, we rely on computers or smartphones for everything, whether its managing our personal accounts, video chatting with someone halfway around the world, or computing how to launch spacecraft to another planet.There are so many positives to technology, but as with everything, with every good, there is bad.
As millennials, we’ve grown up alongside technology and like to laugh at the older generations that are confused by the iPhone. Rarely do you ever hear someone our age talk about the difficulties of growing up in such an age, as though its all positive and beneficial to our growth--but that's not necessarily 100% accurate.
Especially at our age, we want everyone to believe that our lives are perfect and we’re living life to the fullest every second of every day, even if that’s on a Monday night. Social media has turned this idea of sharing everything for our friends to see into a silent contest, a race to see who can have the most fun and document it all. The problem with this is that it can make all of us feel like we need to be living up to the amount of “fun” all of our friends are having, which winds up hurting us more than helping us, especially if this is what you’re seeing on your feed 24/7.
There’s nothing wrong with posting all of your good times everywhere for family and friends to see—and I do it quite often myself. Something I’ve noticed though, is even on my worst day, I’ll post a picture (or an entire album depending on the day) of photos of me smiling wide and pretending not to have a care in the world, even if at that moment I’m laying in my bed, already very over the day that I’m having. This comes from a part of me that doesn’t want to seem like I’m missing out or having less of a good time than anyone else, so pretending that life is flowers and rainbows seems like the easier way out even if I’m pouting behind the screen.
I like to think this isn’t just me doing this, but everyone else who also feels like sometimes they need to keep up with the fun their friends are having miles away. Its not malicious or done to one-up someone, but rather to keep up. We have enough pressure on ourselves already, so why stress ourselves out over a problem that we're creating completely in our head or behind our screens?
So to the person that has a 400 second snap story, I’m glad you’re having that much fun—you keep doing you. And to the person watching it from your bed on a Friday, tomorrow, next week, and even next month will give you plenty of chances to have your fun, I promise. Let's like each others posts, but not keep playing the game.
