Facebook versus Real Life

The short film “What’s on your mind?”, about the Facebook depressing effects, went viral this week and made me think about what kind of feelings are being associated to the social network. I mean, we all know that the things we post online are, generally, the good stuff! No one wants to see their failures and sad moments spread on Facebook for everyone to watch, comment and laugh!

We pose for the picture, choose the best outfit for a selfie before a night out, put the plate together to show how healthy we are and run the miles on the treadmill just to confirm it again! Every single detail of our lives is now open to the eyes of our followers and friends, and we seem to be ok with that. 

Enjoy Real Life
Credits

At least, I am. I know exactly what I am showing. I’m ok with every photograph I have and with every detail I give. The problem with this short film is that the principle there is that we can’t measure our happiness comparing it to the things others publish online. But, isn’t this also applicable to real life? No one should live comparing themselves to others, so this is not about Facebook, this is about you, looking at your life and making it better regardless of what your neighbor is doing or what your Facebook friend is posting.

Personally, I don’t agree with the message they are trying to send. This is not about what’s on our Facebook wall, this is about our way of appreciating our families, our relationships, our food and our pets, among a million other things, just because they are ours.  Even if someone else has an awesome life, that doesn't mean we can’t have it too, maybe in a different way. We can enjoy our real lives while we are using Facebook and other social networks, that's what should be encouraged nowadays. 

Facebook is not the bad guy here, if you are depressed looking at your friends' photographs and posts, you are doing that to yourself. Just stop it, go outside and get a life offline! 

Your TopCrusher,

Daniela