Do you experience Life Envy? A social media dilema.
Now life envy, this isn’t a topic I would have thought of all on my own but it is certainly a hot topic on the internet and it’s worth talking about. We live in a world where social media is entirely pervasive. It has taken the expression of “Keeping up with the Jones” to a whole new level. Everyone is happy, life is amazing and their lives are so much better than ours. On our quick morning click to Facebook we can start our day filled with life envy. As the above quote says, “Don’t Compare Your Inside to Someone Else’s Outside.” Our lives are not as transparent as we’d like our social media friends to believe.
Mind Body Green examines this phenomenon in Does Facebook Give You Life Envy? They suggests that people only post what they want us to see. Their post can be genuine or they can be posting about the life they want. Let’s face it we don’t post about the cat throwing up a furball all over our purse we left on the hall floor or the the fact that we got stranded in the bathroom with no toilet paper. Life is not always that exciting in fact it can be pretty boring so when people share they are usually sharing the good stuff.
Summing it up perfectly is Huffington Post writer Lisa Earle McLeod, with How to Get Over Facebook Envy.
Facebook envy is a condition that causes you to see one single fabulous out of context moment of someone else’s life and compare their one great moment against the totality of your own life.
That’s just it it is a moment not their life.
An article on Headspace suggests that There’s an antidote for life-envy. Reduce the time you spend on social media sites and use that time to do something you enjoy. Talking about it with others can help you put it in perspective. It can be nice to realize you are not the only one who notices a mood shift after reading about all the great things your friends are doing with their lives.
So while envy is a natural reaction you can combat it with positive thoughts and gratitude. Unplug and take time to live your own life doing the things you love with the people that matter to you.
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