Relevant Magazine writer, Shauna Niequist, recently published a super convicting article titled Instagram's Envy Effect (<--- click the link for the full article). For those of us born between 1985 - 1993, we have a particular social media experience unlike those a few years older and a few years younger. We are bilingual in a sense, a bridge between the two generations. You know what I am talking about, the 30-somethings that don't quite understand the difference between writing on a facebook wall and sending a facebook message. And then of course you have the 16-year-old at the other end of the spectrum letting us know about every new follower, every new retweet, and every new shirt they got, all communicated with a #hashtag.
We are the few that experienced Xanga and MySpace, yet we were immersed in the beginning of Facebook. However, we "got out" just in time for the obsessive take over of Twitter and Instagram. ie - we don't have 1500 twitter followers and get 314 likes on our Instagram pictures. (If you do, I hope you have a blue checkmark next to your name) Growing up during the booming growth of social media is a weird concept to process, being connected enough to be normal but slowly becoming only semi-connected as things are changing. (Does that even make sense!!) I feel like I am just sitting back and witnessing the take over of social media in the lives of those around us.
Here are some of my favorite quotes from Niequist's article for you to chew on:
- The danger of the internet is that it’s very very easy to tell partial truths—to show the fabulous meal but not the mess to clean up afterward. To display the smiling couple-shot, but not the fight you had three days ago. To offer up the sparkly milestones but not the spiraling meltdowns.
- Our envy buttons also get pushed because we rarely check Facebook when we’re having our own peak experiences. We check it when we’re bored and when we’re lonely, and it intensifies that boredom and loneliness.
- It makes sense, then, that anyone else’s fun or beauty or sparkle gets under our skin. It magnifies our own dissatisfaction with that moment. When you’re waiting for your coffee to brew, the majority of your friends probably aren’t doing anything any more special. But it only takes one friend at the Eiffel Tower to make you feel like a loser.
- I so easily fall prey to the seduction of other people’s partial truths and heavily filtered photos, making everything look amazing. And their amazing looking lives make me feel not amazing at all.
- For many of us, walking away from the Internet isn’t an option. But using it to connect instead of compare is an option, and a life-changing one.
- Let’s choose community. Let’s stop comparing. Let’s start connecting.
I recently saw Warm Bodies, a funny zombie twist on Romeo and Juliet. Don't judge me, it was in the dollar theater.
"This is a typical day for me. I shuffle around, occasionally bumping into people, unable to apologize or say much of anything. It must have been so much better before when everyone could express themselves, communicate their feelings and just enjoy each others company."
Here's the moral of the story, this zombie quote could be applied to April 22, 2013. We are all just shuffling around and not expressing ourselves in real intentional community, we are trying to fit it in 140 characters or less. Oh world!!!!!!!!! Here I am expressing myself on my laptop in a blog post.
I need to go outside now, bye!!!!!!
