March has finally made its way, and with it comes everyone's favourite holiday: Purim! What's better than a holiday where you pretend you're something you're not? Nothing, that's what. So, since we're all getting in the spirit to be fake, I thought it would be fun to take advantage of that. Let's talk about how social media cripples our society (yet again). Before anyone gets their panties in a bunch, I know that the topic of social media being a big "problem" in our society has been covered plenty of times, and I know that research shows that social media isn’t nearly as big of an epidemic as people make it out to be. Still, you have to take into account that most people spend 11 hours a day just looking at their screens. When I say social media is "crippling" our society, I'm not talking about burning buildings and sirens in the distance, but more of a change in how we think and interact – the way we perceive each other, as well.
Now, I don’t want to discredit social media for its accomplishments. In today's world, we're more informed, more connected to one another and technology is advancing faster than it ever has. But the fact is that what we post on social media is very selective. we can take as much time as we need to cultivate the "perfect" post, and in turn, we also scroll through our feeds for hours looking at other people's perfectly cultivated posts. Here's the thing about that though - it’s a total façade. No one wants to flaunt the ugly parts of their lives, so this may leave you with discontent about your own life. This makes us hold ourselves to an extremely high standard, which just isn’t healthy. In fact, it sounds exhausting. The worst part about it is – there's no one to blame for this. We are all collectively responsible for how we feel, what we post, who we follow.
Of course, there are people out there that post freely, people that don’t care about looking nice or being presentable. Even people that broadcast the ugliest parts of their lives. That definitely isn’t the majority though, I mean, why would someone want to broadcast how horrible their life is if they can opt for something much more desirable? I have a few friends that refuse to even have social media accounts, simply because they believe it does them nothing but harm. It's actually quite common for people to take "social media breaks" for mental health purposes, but from what I've seen, they usually don’t last very long and that sort of defeats the purpose.
All of these factors also change the way we interact, how we feel about each other, and more. When you have a more desirable or popular social media account, this fact alone completely changes your status among others, which is odd because you aren’t necessarily "famous" or "unachievably beautiful" - you may just be putting on a very good front. This digital mask we wear, it may make us feel better about ourselves, but that doesn’t mean it's real. What's important for you to take away from this article is that you have control over what you post or participate in online, so if you find yourself unhappy with it you shouldn’t feel obligated to pursue it.
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