Old concept: We live in a world of false realities.
New concept: This is a big deal.
I am like you. I get on Facebook to peek into other people’s lives and to share (the good parts of) my own. On vacation? Show it. Got a job? Tell it. Had a baby? Prove it. In 2014 an experience means nothing if it’s not validated on the Internet.
Not online? Didn’t happen.
We publish the pretty and hide the ugly, a phenomenon that makes my head hurt if I think about it long enough. (That’s why I love blogging. It’s the straightforward, unedited, often hideous truth that I think should be more prevalent in the social networking world.) So often we blame the media for false advertising, but we do it too. Lying by omission is still lying.
How does organic self-confidence stand a chance against this? The only way we know how to feel good about ourselves is by comparison, and that terrifies me. What scares me even more is that we’re okay with it.
Readers, listen. According to Nielsen’s annual Social Media Report, the United States spent 121 billion minutes on social media sites in July of 2012 alone. That’s 320,060 years submerged in stories that aren’t stories, lives that aren’t lives. That’s 320,060 years submerged in lies, and that’s a big freaking deal. When you think about drowning in so much deception, your skin should crawl. Mine does.
I’m depressing you, I know. But I can’t help it.
Because we need a revolution.
Let’s post pictures of the truth. Dirty houses, screaming children, bad hair days, failed tests, and burnt suppers.
Let’s make comments that are real. Today I feel afraid. Today I feel angry. Today I feel overwhelmed. Today I feel “less than” and, boy, does that suck.
Let’s experience things for the sake of experiencing them, not for the sake of putting them online. So what if sixty-two people “like” your reflection? Do you like it? It’s certainly easier to get validation from others than it is to get it from yourself, but external approval is neither sustainable nor real. You have to love you. Nothing else can fill that hole.
In a world consumed by “realities” that are anything but, we set illusory standards for ourselves. We strive to create lives that don’t exist and then beat ourselves up when our efforts fall short.
We are “friends” with everyone in the world but ourselves.
A collective revolution started this mess.
It’s going to take a personal one to stop it.
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