Well, not Instagram exclusively, but what I like to call the Instagram Illusion.
This Instagram Illusion is what each posting member of social media contributes to when we all kind of lie in a way by omitting the bad facts of life and showcasing all the good.
The problem is obviously not in the fact that people are posting good, happy parts of their lives. The problem is that they don't post the bad.
And I don't blame them. The Internet can be a cold, cruel place in which it can be difficult to even put our best foot forward for fear of what people will think or make of what we've just contributed to the cyber world. But it creates this illusion of people's lives that is inaccurate because it's incomplete, among other things, but the incompleteness is the biggest player in this illusion.
The other contributing factors could be consistency (or lack thereof), wording and photo specs-just to name a few. But the reason why my biggest issue is with what's omitted dawned on me one night when, after I had (finally) scrolled through my Instagram feed long enough to get down to what I'd already seen, I turned off my phone screen and just laid in bed and realized that it made me a little bit sad.
Not sad because of what I had seen: sad because what I had seen created a false standard for what my life should look like and my real life, in all of its real and rawness, didn't measure up. Between the engagement rings, fashion shows, travel photos and baby pictures it's harder to find shots of all the other, not-as-beautiful, everyday life occurrences that must constitute the remainder of people's lives.
My following statement is not to say that there aren't many other factors involved here, but no wonder the divorce rate is going up almost as fast as the United States' debt. It's hard to look at all the couples and their 'date night selfies' on instagram and not remember that they trudged through the struggles and challenges of the week before they got there. It's not common for people to post instagram selfies captioned "we just had an argument and I was wrong so I apologized and he forgave me." but you know it happens. (Personally, I wish more people would post those types of things. And kudos to those of you who do.)
It's hard to remember that you are not alone in your problems when the feed is so inflated with everyone's smiling selfie faces.
I enjoy instagram. I check it and refresh it more often than I'm proud of and while I do want to work on that, I don't intend to delete it or quit posting things. I do, however, think it's important to hold tight to the fact the feed is everyone's best side, not necessarily all of their real life.
A picture is worth a thousand words and that's what makes Instagram amazing. I learn so many wonderful things about people through social media. Just keep in mind that simply because something is worth a thousand words doesn't mean that those words tell the whole story.
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| Actual selfie by yours truly. |
The problem is obviously not in the fact that people are posting good, happy parts of their lives. The problem is that they don't post the bad.
And I don't blame them. The Internet can be a cold, cruel place in which it can be difficult to even put our best foot forward for fear of what people will think or make of what we've just contributed to the cyber world. But it creates this illusion of people's lives that is inaccurate because it's incomplete, among other things, but the incompleteness is the biggest player in this illusion.
The other contributing factors could be consistency (or lack thereof), wording and photo specs-just to name a few. But the reason why my biggest issue is with what's omitted dawned on me one night when, after I had (finally) scrolled through my Instagram feed long enough to get down to what I'd already seen, I turned off my phone screen and just laid in bed and realized that it made me a little bit sad.
Not sad because of what I had seen: sad because what I had seen created a false standard for what my life should look like and my real life, in all of its real and rawness, didn't measure up. Between the engagement rings, fashion shows, travel photos and baby pictures it's harder to find shots of all the other, not-as-beautiful, everyday life occurrences that must constitute the remainder of people's lives.
My following statement is not to say that there aren't many other factors involved here, but no wonder the divorce rate is going up almost as fast as the United States' debt. It's hard to look at all the couples and their 'date night selfies' on instagram and not remember that they trudged through the struggles and challenges of the week before they got there. It's not common for people to post instagram selfies captioned "we just had an argument and I was wrong so I apologized and he forgave me." but you know it happens. (Personally, I wish more people would post those types of things. And kudos to those of you who do.)
It's hard to remember that you are not alone in your problems when the feed is so inflated with everyone's smiling selfie faces.
I enjoy instagram. I check it and refresh it more often than I'm proud of and while I do want to work on that, I don't intend to delete it or quit posting things. I do, however, think it's important to hold tight to the fact the feed is everyone's best side, not necessarily all of their real life.
A picture is worth a thousand words and that's what makes Instagram amazing. I learn so many wonderful things about people through social media. Just keep in mind that simply because something is worth a thousand words doesn't mean that those words tell the whole story.