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I was Skyping with my sister the other day and we were talking about social media and how looks can be so deceiving.
She told me how a friend refuses to go on Facebook because it only contributes to her feeling depressed, and I understand that.
I remember when we were longing for a baby every pregnancy announcement or complaint about how hard pregnancy was, was to much for me to handle and I 'unfriended' quite a lot of 'friends' during that time.
It might not have been the nicest thing to do, but all those updates made me feel so inadequate and depressed.
Social media can be tricky like that.
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It is so easy to compare with someone else's seemingly perfect life and feel like my life is lacking.
It's so easy to let negativity and jealousy rule my life.
But one thing I seem to forget all too often is that I'm comparing my life, my real life,
with someones filtered life.
The things most people share on social media are usually the highlights and the happy moments,
don't forget that!
No one wants to air their dirty laundry in public. And I think that's pretty normal.
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But for me, it is something to keep in mind.
Not only when seeing others lives through social media, but also when sharing my own life.
I want to be aware of how I come across and why I share certain things and keep other things to myself.
I want to question my intention for posting certain things: 'Is it to make others jealous or am I honestly sharing my happiness/real life/the beauty around me?'
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My life is far from perfect,
I'm just another mama and wife trying to be the person God intended me to be,
sometimes it's a great life and sometimes life is hard.
But it's the life that I have received and I feel so blessed.
And I absolutely believe that social media can bring so much positivity,
we just need to be more intentional and real about it, don't you think?
Love, Maria
ABSOLUTELY!!! I agree with you 100%..I refuse to be on facebook and only begrudgingly opened an account (under a fake name) so that my best friend overseas could share her pics with me.. and as you say, because she is in the Cayman Islands - those gorgeous beach pics are hard enough to look at on my 'normal days' !!! I have no interest in hunting down or being hunted down by old school friends, (i have email) and keep telling everyone that I would much rather invest my time and energy with real friends who I can see face to face...its a hard one when you have family living around the world so I understand to an extent, but I think everything you've said is so true - we compare to an unrealistic ideal making ourselves constantly unsatisfied - and its a time sapper!
ReplyDeleteOne thing I know: you would never post something to make other people jealous, Maria! I think you are too generous and loving for that! Your dad....
ReplyDeleteI thought this was going to say "your dad on the other hand ...." :-)
DeleteI don't think the point is that someone would intentionally try to make others jealous. But it is true that readers also have a job - to make sure they read everything knowing that only part of the picture is being shown.
so true, I think there is also quite a big social change within just a few years because of that. I for myself don`t spend much time on facebook, because it`s a time killer, I keep it quite personal, just to stay in contact with a few closes friends. But especially when I see the younger generation how much time and effort they put in such things to present theirselfs well, it´s kind of tricky. Just had the talk about that with my youngest brother who ist just 16.
ReplyDeleteIt´s so important that we self and also the younger ones and maybe someday our kids learn that social media isn`t real life and that it doesn`t show the value of your personality and who you are. Anyways I`m though very glad it exists and that through blogging one could get to know many inspiring new people (like you) , but just a tiny bit! And more than this it´s a blessing when people stay real, like you do in your posts. Happy weekend and much love ( we already had a tiny bit of snow in the higher regions around here, can´t believe it!) from Germany, noni