Life Is Not The Endless Highlight Reel Social Media Paints It As
Social media, as we all know, is viewed by everybody and anybody.
It could be your ex stalking your Instagram, it could be your future employers looking you up on Facebook.
It could be your mother, your father, your friends, your family, strangers, even the people you meet on dating apps; they’re all looking at you and your social profiles. They are judging you based on the content you put into the world; and the reason why you and I both know this is because we do the same.
Everyone does it.
Everybody feels this pressure to only post good things, to make your life look good. Or amazing. Or rare. To make yourself out to be a Mother Theresa, who volunteers to help people whilst buying designer bags and loving your friends more than anything.
This version of you, and me, only exists in pixels.
You want to make your life that great. You want to show the world that you’re having a great time, that your life is perfect, with no errors or mistakes or bad days or hangovers.
Your content shows that you got the promotion at work. Not that you spent three hours late every day for a month or two in the office, working your way up.
You’re going to show them that you got a new dress, not that the fact that you had to go into your overdraft to pay for it. But it will be soooo worth it because of the new floral wall you’re going to have 100 pictures taken in front of in a rooftop bar in the city, only to edit and upload one.
You’re going to show them the new pet you got. Not that you only got it because you’re feeling lonely at the moment.
You’re going to talk about your friends; the ones you’re close with at the moment, not the ones that you’ve fallen away from recently.
Social media is such a tricky thing. It’s so new, and only really had such a big impact on our lives the past 10 years or so.
Therefore, we don’t know to the fullest extent the damaging effects it has on young people’s minds by constantly only showing them a highlight reel.
Everybody, especially celebrities, are pressuring people by telling them that their lives aren’t good enough, because they’re not having a great time all the time.
Therefore, they’re inadequate. You’re inadequate. I’m inadequate.
They’re inadequate because they’re not buying the right clothes or jewellery or weight loss supplement, or because they’re not leading the right lifestyle.
But, you are. I am. They are.
Everybody has shit days at work. Everybody feels ugly.
Occasionally, everybody goes into their overdraft.
Everyone gets sick.
And most importantly, people have mental health issues.
I feel like it’s really important to talk about these kind of things; from the big issues in society to the mundane, everyday things; because they happen to all of us.
Our lives aren’t just hipster bars, markets and brunches. Our lives are the work canteen, getting caught in the rain without an umbrella and crying at a trashy TV show.
The good, the bad and the ugly; just like everyone else’s.
The hugs, the happiness, the celebrations. The good times and bad. Friends, relationships, finding ourselves and muddling through adulthood. Struggling to find our way in a big city or small town. Sometimes feeling like we’re conquering it, sometimes feeling like we’re drowning in it.
It’s okay to have a mundane life, everybody does.
If more influencers and celebrities stepped up and promoted normality and tried to stop the feeling of helplessness and overwhelming pressure on people (youths especially) that the highlight reel presents, the world would be a better place.