Not Everything on Social Media is Real- Keeping up with the Social Media Jones’
Not everything on Social Media is real. A friend of mine shared a video on their facebook feed today, and it got me thinking. How much of your “Real” lives do you post on Facebook?
Have you seen this video from HigtonBrothers? Please watch it before you continue to read. It’s completely eye opening!
Not Everything on Social Media is Real
This video put into perspective just how deceiving your friend’s social media can be. Not everything on Social media is real. It’s just NOT! There is a sense of keeping up with the Jones’ that we all seem to follow to some extent.
As a mother, I post a lot of my smiling kids having fun. How often do I post a picture of my son heartbroken, or mad, or misbehaving? or my daughter throwing her cereal on the ground or screaming in frustration, or in time out? I don’t. How often do I update my Facebook status to: “I just want to run away and start fresh.” Not often. These things happen all the time. Frequently my kids are mad, or misbehaving. Frequently I think I want to just run away and start fresh. (I don’t because I know it’s not what I REALLY want, but the feeling of complete helplessness is there sometimes.) However, I leave these things off my social media. Why? Because I too want to “keep up with the Jones’ of social media.” But who is to say that the Jones’ are leading a perfect life. Maybe they just do what I do and omit details, only mostly posting the positive, happy things.
How many would unfriend, or unfollow, or turn off notifications if we didn’t only see the positives of our friends lives? What if they shared their opinions and you didn’t agree with them? How many people would turn their backs on their so-called friends because they were “too negative”? Would you?
I think it’s important for many to know that the picture painted on Facebook or any other social media channel, isn’t necessarily reality. Not everyone only eats fancy Instagram worthy meals every night, and there is no way on earth that people just roll out of bed looking like a million bucks every morning. These are mirages. These are premeditated moments. Please don’t judge your life on them. I beg you.
You don’t have to live up to your Aunt Jane’s, Cousins, Sister’s Mother in law’s amazing looking life on social media. She may have just posted a picture of her perfectly manicured nails holding a piece of fancy looking sushi, but chances are those nails are press ons and she got the sushi from the deli counter at her grocery store. She may even be eating alone in sweatpants, but you didn’t see that part for a reason.
Not everything is as it seems. Not everything on social media is Real. Don’t judge yourself based on anyone else.
Do you censor yourself on Social Media?
I am pretty private online but I often will post something and edit it or delete it quick. People are always judging
Yep. I have posted something and quickly rethought it many a time.
Very true.. I have seen one too many people air their dirty laundry on social media and it blow up in their face.. I try to keep my life pretty personal as well as I know there is not as much ‘security’ there as you like to believe or like another poster said – people judge!
That movie was really sad, and I know it was to make a point.
There’s a flip side to this too. That one person that spends their whole time complaining about their kids. Sometimes I just want to look them in the eye and say, wake up. Your kids are growing, treasure them, but I don’t. Because it feeds the dragon.