In the fairy tale land of social media everyone is happy! The fairy tale land of perfect relationships, perfect jobs, perfect houses, dream vacations, multiple degrees and groundbreaking success. Everyone is happy, happy, happy! Scrolling through your newsfeed you see another graduation picture, another engagement, cute photos of the perfect family and a new announcement that some old college classmate just landed their dream job. Perfect! You post a meaningless “happy birthday” “congratulations” or “condolences” message instead of picking up the phone to actually call the person or sending a heartfelt message celebrating those sentimental moments. You then start to reflect on your boring life and begin to question your meaningless existence. Everyone is prospering while you’re simply trying to figure out how your tuition will get paid for the next semester or how you will pay your phone bill for the month or how you will get by with just $20 in your bank account to last you until that financial aid, direct deposit or tax refund check posts to your account. You’re just trying to survive but your friends are living the good life. So it seems. This picture perfect land of social media is a breeding ground for fairy tale fallacies and skewed perceptions of reality. When the rose colored glasses come off what does it really reveal?
Real life isn’t as fancy as the posts on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter portrays. In reality, no one reveals to the world their struggles. No one makes a status saying: "woke up depressed today because I can’t pay my bills.” Social media is a security blanket for the insecure to boast about their fabulous lives when on the inside they are slowly deteriorating and looking for outside validation to feed their ego. We mask our insecurities by portraying perfect lives to the world but it takes a truly strong and vulnerable person to reveal personal struggles. Everyone wants to prove to others they are better than the next person. We want to prove that we are just as rich, fabulous and fierce as our “friends.” We’ve become so disconnected from reality that we start to believe the lies we tell to ourselves. This prevents us from truly growing, seeking understanding and true introspection. Our constant need for outside validation depletes our souls, leaving us emotionally bankrupt. Not saying that people should reveal their deepest darkest secrets on social media but this superficial world of perfection that we project on social media is a breeding ground for unhealthy competition which leads to social anxiety, depression and emotional detachment.
In the article “Is 'Facebook Depression’ For Real?” by Jennifer Van Pelt, it is noted that status posts on Facebook can have an effect on how people view themselves and leads to unhealthy comparisons. In the same article licensed social worker Brent L. Fletcher notes: “Facebook and other social media may contribute to depression in three ways—bullying, comparison with others, and influencing self-worth.”
There’s an ugly side to social media once the rose colored glasses are removed. Lack of empathy is something that has arisen in this social media age. A woman can share a story about sexual abuse or domestic violence and strangers feel they have the right to pick apart the story. A parent can take their eyes off their child for a split second and everyone on social media becomes a parental expert launching witch hunts against the parent instead of sympathizing. An unarmed black teenager can be shot and killed but behind the clicks of a witty trending hashtag racist trolls are free to spew hate. Cyberbullying is widely accepted and tolerated for likes and retweets.
People make assumptions about you based on what they think they know about you from your social media posts. We secretly start to envy the life that we think is real and begin to project our own insecurities trying to prove our self worth to others by overcompensating in our social media posts. Thus a vicious cycle has been created and this land of fairy tale fallacies is the result. Don’t compare your life to the fairy tale fallacy Facebook status, picture perfect Instagram posts, or the thought provoking/witty Twitter statuses from posters chasing Twitter fame.
The truth of one’s soul is hidden behind the computer screen and in reality we may never know what that truth reveals. We should seek spiritual enlightenment and work on developing our own sense of self worth without seeking the validation or approval from others on social media platforms. Don't be afraid to express your true self and when you start to envy the lives of your "friends" remember that behind every perfect picture is a story where the fairy tale dream that scrolls across your screen is not always what it seems.
