There are days where jealousy takes over my life. It doesn't help that I see most people's lives through the filter of social media. Stellar pictures, instagrams that would make anyone jealous (and a lot of times that is what they are intended to do), heart-warming life updates, exciting adventures shared through posts and blogs, etc. We are all "guilty" of this. I put "guilty" in quotation marks because I don't think it is inherently wrong or "bad" to do this. That is what social media is for, isn't it? To inform others of what our life is like at the moment. Whether we acquired an amazing job, just got into a relationship/married, are travelling, or are just enjoying this blissful life to the max. We want to share it with the world because we are social beings.
If a tree falls in the woods and no one is around to hear it, does it still make a sound? If something exciting happens in our lives and no one knows about it, is it still exciting?
Unfortunately I've had to ask myself this question many times. Too often I would defend my ever-increasing presence on social media by saying that I have convictions and that these convictions need to be shared, whether anyone is listening or not. Sadly, I have come to the conclusion that hardly anyone listens. The only thing it's gotten me is a weird reputation as: the über-feminist girl with the instagrams and a blog that no one reads.
And because I crave attention even more when it isn't given to me, I observe the environment around me, see through my distorted glasses, and it always seems like other people's lives are better than mine.
I've contemplated deactivating my facebook account entirely. I mean, what a sad life are we living if we cannot stay away from it? How much have we been conditioning ourselves to depend on this form of social media for self-validation? Too much, if you ask me.
Knowing my knack for diving into extreme ideas and never following through, I almost immediately realized that I probably wouldn't be able to stay away from it completely. I am going to be limiting my time spent on it and hopefully get it through this thick skull of mine that, at least on social media, no one cares what I have to say. And even if they do, I can still make an impact on this world by interacting with people face to face. I'm pretty sure God will be able to handle the lack of social media and still put me to use.
Maybe I'll blog about what it's like to be staying away from things such as facebook soon. Maybe I won't. We'll see...
