I opened up #linkedin this morning and scrolled down, like usual, only to see all various wins, achievements, awards, happy faces, conferences’ successes and many, many positive vibes! Which is great and very inspiring! It is nothing but natural to celebrate the success and to connect with others by sharing your wonderful life experiences. Although, what I truly felt is that the #socialmedia does create a certain bias in our brains, that life consists of only happy moments and various achievements.
Why do we mainly post the moments, that we are proud of and do we ever post another of the story, that can be filled with #anxieties, fails, embarrassing moments, #hardships and dark periods of our lives….Are we looking for a constant #validation in other people eyes or do we believe that this is the way to create the right image?
I am sure, that you have noticed natural human tendency to showcase mostly the best of ourselves: our best looks, amazing travelling experiences, great food, new career and education achievements….please continue the list. Social media became a virtual board to pin the highlights of our life to it. We do prefer to focus on positive moments on social media, but what is happening in real lives? A lot of us are also suffering from comparing ourselves with the incomplete narrative on social media by seeing only the bright side of the story.
We all want to believe in “happily ever after” and boost our moods with uplifting content…and it is perfectly normal. Our brains are naturally drawn to pleasure rather than pain. But have you ever felt inadequate to share your failure on social media? Have you ever stopped yourself from sharing something pessimistic and gloomy while thinking what others will think about you seeing yourself not at your best…?
- Social media one sided bright stories might create an illusion of perfect life with zero serious problems, that will impose unrealistic expectations on you and your life.
- This can add to your need for constant dopamine boost via social media validation with “likes”.
- Mental health can be affected by consuming overly positive content of other people lives.
- This might lead to feeling small & inadequate, envious & incomplete, provoke the fear of missing out (#FOMO) and that you are not living your best life.
- It is very important to remind ourselves and challenge our perception. No one had it perfect and you can’t win them all. Aim for a balanced social media content that portrays the authenticity with its imperfections versus idealization.
When was the last time you shared your #failure on the social media and why did you do it?
Have you ever publicly shared your defeat, struggle, hardship on social media?
Do we even need to show the both sides of the story?
Let’s keep in touch and share our authentic stories on https://www.linkedin.com/in/1p2l3o4t5k6i7n8a/
