The Dangers of Social Media

Social media is a beautiful thing.  No longer do you have to dial long-distance to stay connected to your friend who lives across the country.  No longer is a four hour drive the only way to know what your friends are doing in other states.  Social media platforms have the ability to create unlimited connections ranging from surface level to as deep people want them to be, depending on how open and transparent people choose to be.  However, the danger in these connections is that people only share what they want to share with friends.

Social media allows a person to write their story however they want people to read it; this story may be very different from the actual life this person leads.  Herein lies the danger of social media.  Hypothetically, If I log onto Facebook and see all of my friends posting positive things and showing off their brand new houses and engagement rings, I am going to try and size myself up to those people if I'm not mindful.  My next thoughts might try to wander off and be about how my life compares to theirs.  Yeah they have a big house, but I heard _________.  I wish I could buy my girlfriend that nice of a ring, but ________.  These thoughts can cause much harm to us if we allow them-- especially if we are in a tough time in life and we view everyone else as "much happier" and "having a much easier life than my own."  In these moments, you are allowing yourself to forget that you are only seeing the side of that person's life that they want you to see.  They may be going through the very same thing as you but choose not to share this on social media.  Your friends may in fact be going through something way tougher in life-- you just can't see it because they don't show that side to you.  

Don't get me wrong, I love happy stories.  I love to see people's happiness and joy in life.  There is a lot of bad and evil in the world, so I love to see feel-good stories.  Life is too short and uncontrollable to harp on the ugliness of it.  Bottom line: there is no win in comparison [a message Andy Stanley often preaches]. Stop measuring your life by comparing social media accounts.  Life isn't about likes, shares, retweets, or number of online friends.  Life is about being you, not someone else.  Life is about finding happiness in your life, not by finding joy in "mentally one-upping" someone on social media.  Do use social media as a resource, as a place to enjoy the happiness of your friends, and as a place to stay connected no matter where you go.  Don't use social media as a way to determine your happiness, as a way to rank yourself, as a source of pride, as a source of emotional detriment.