Hands up who uses social media?
Hands up who uses it more frequently than they do anything else in their life?
Any ideas why?
I sum it up to not so much being super convenient providing everyone you want to share the latest with in your life is using it too, but more so a method of escapism.
While it's good in some respects, in others it's downright depressing.
Take the case of any Kardashian, or just celebrities in general. If you look around at what's in your life and think it's not as good as it could be, as soon as someone big and fancy updates about their seemingly uber cool lifestyle, you're hooked!
Even if the image they post isn't terribly exciting, it still somehow ranks more exciting than anything else in your day or life put together.
I've heard many times that most things on social media are about putting your best foot forward, but it's ridiculously easy to get caught up in that. The best foot is really convincing!
I personally avoiding joining Instagram for as long as possible because I didn't want to get caught up in the lives of other people when it seemed almost fake in a way. If you're putting what you want people to see out there, what aren't you showing?
If I'm having a good time then sure I'd love to show it to the world if I feel it's necessary, and I'm sure that many people that do post images of themselves having a good time are completely genuine, but I've just never been a fan of the 'keeping up appearances' thing.
It's like when you feel terrible but you put on a happy face and show that to the world and no one is any the wiser. More than anything, I hate the aftermath of trailing through Instagram and Facebook feeds. Everyone else's life usually seems more exciting than what you're doing, even though in quite a lot of cases, it's really not.
I guess in a way it could be seen as a privacy thing. You don't want people to know what you're really going through so you don't show it or any hints of it.
For me it's a lot more personal. When I read about people who have suffered immensely but show no signs of it so others don't know what they're going through, especially when it's too late, it's devastating. You can't help someone if you don't know that they need help and if they don't ask for it.
I recently started following a few different celebrities that I admire because I like to see what they're up to, obviously. Whenever I read through the photo comments it's more often than not fans begging the person to follow them, heavily sucking up and ultimately expressing their desire for the life depicted in the post. It all seems superficial to me.
At the end of the day I think it's about validation for a lot of people, hence the 'follow for likes, pay for likes, etc' type things that are everywhere. People want attention and for other people to notice what it is they're doing so they can feel like they've done a good job or whatever.
Thanks to the incredible variety of social media platforms, it's that much easier to find a way to get lost in another person's world, their life, their everything. Just make sure you don't lose yourself in the process.
Hands up who uses it more frequently than they do anything else in their life?
Any ideas why?
I sum it up to not so much being super convenient providing everyone you want to share the latest with in your life is using it too, but more so a method of escapism.
While it's good in some respects, in others it's downright depressing.
Take the case of any Kardashian, or just celebrities in general. If you look around at what's in your life and think it's not as good as it could be, as soon as someone big and fancy updates about their seemingly uber cool lifestyle, you're hooked!
Even if the image they post isn't terribly exciting, it still somehow ranks more exciting than anything else in your day or life put together.
I've heard many times that most things on social media are about putting your best foot forward, but it's ridiculously easy to get caught up in that. The best foot is really convincing!
I personally avoiding joining Instagram for as long as possible because I didn't want to get caught up in the lives of other people when it seemed almost fake in a way. If you're putting what you want people to see out there, what aren't you showing?
If I'm having a good time then sure I'd love to show it to the world if I feel it's necessary, and I'm sure that many people that do post images of themselves having a good time are completely genuine, but I've just never been a fan of the 'keeping up appearances' thing.
It's like when you feel terrible but you put on a happy face and show that to the world and no one is any the wiser. More than anything, I hate the aftermath of trailing through Instagram and Facebook feeds. Everyone else's life usually seems more exciting than what you're doing, even though in quite a lot of cases, it's really not.
I guess in a way it could be seen as a privacy thing. You don't want people to know what you're really going through so you don't show it or any hints of it.
For me it's a lot more personal. When I read about people who have suffered immensely but show no signs of it so others don't know what they're going through, especially when it's too late, it's devastating. You can't help someone if you don't know that they need help and if they don't ask for it.
I recently started following a few different celebrities that I admire because I like to see what they're up to, obviously. Whenever I read through the photo comments it's more often than not fans begging the person to follow them, heavily sucking up and ultimately expressing their desire for the life depicted in the post. It all seems superficial to me.
At the end of the day I think it's about validation for a lot of people, hence the 'follow for likes, pay for likes, etc' type things that are everywhere. People want attention and for other people to notice what it is they're doing so they can feel like they've done a good job or whatever.
Thanks to the incredible variety of social media platforms, it's that much easier to find a way to get lost in another person's world, their life, their everything. Just make sure you don't lose yourself in the process.
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