I’ve so often been told in my lifetime that my generation is unique in that we’re the first to have grown up strictly in the digital age. I can barely remember the time when smartphones weren’t a reality for most everyone I knew, and that social media was the way to go for contact. This kind of lifestyle presents so many new and unique challenges and pitfalls that are just as unique to us as our technological upbringing. One particularly important issue is that of envy that arises through social media.
Social Media across platforms operates on the notion of showing the internet our lives digitally. This can be achieved through many means, by sharing a photo of a time with your friend, by sharing some post you find funny or profound, or interacting with other profiles. What’s unique to this versus regular life is the ability to filter what we wish to present to the world. Ever go “wow she looks so beautiful in that picture”? Chances are that was one of a myriad of pictures taken, and she consulted with friends on which she looked best in… Twice. Ever see a picture and go “Wow he looked like he had a fun time at that vacation”? How much would you take me up on a bet to say that it was not as spontaneous as it would seem? The point is that we see this ability to filter things is taken to a new level. We’re not filtering out the bad or personal, we’re only posting the very best, trying to present a perfect life. Worse than this, however, lots of people believe this life is reality. We form a skewed notion of reality for others, and we get the instant feedback in the form of a "like" count.
Suddenly there’s a number value to our perfect lives we’re creating, and it’s based in how well it resonates with our followers. The life we create suddenly gains validity through this number, and this becomes a problem when us and all our followers accept it to be the truth. This takes our self-value and puts in the hands of our followers, and if they just happen to find our post amongst the rest of the sensory overload of their feeds. See the issue? I’m sure you’ve seen signs of this in the ever annoying post on social media; “Insta.” It’s so important to people that this number be the biggest it can be because there’s meaning tied to it, acceptance. To compound the problem, when we’re following so many people and start to give their presented lives so much validity, we start to envy a lot. We start to wish for the nicer clothes, better car, more athletic body more than ever. That’s fine if that energy were channeled towards achieving those things, but more often than not, it seems to turn into sadness that that’s not our life. It’s lead many people I know to quiet low self-esteem among other mental ailments.
What’s the lesson in all of this? This world of digital lives is all fun and games but there are very real dangers in it all. Approaching this world with reckless abandon for your mental health is nothing but destructive. I’m sure some people will read this and think how preposterous it all sounds. If I would’ve read this years ago, I absolutely would've agreed with that sentiment. The fact of the matter now is that times have changed and realities must be faced. It’s far beyond the point of someone older than us telling us to ignore it. I’m no saint either, I’ve allowed myself to fall prey to this every once in a while too. It’s become an epidemic that we need to combat from the inside. That starts with becoming self-aware and realizing that we may just be guilty of these things, no matter to how small of a degree.
