I remember when I first joined Facebook. It was fascinating to me. I could reconnect with old friends, find long lost family, check in and see how everyone is enjoying their lives. I loved it. For a really long time. It felt nice to be able to share everything with everyone. In fact, there was a time when I couldn't understand why some people still didn't have Facebook. Then overnight everyone had a Facebook. Literally, everyone. Your mom, your aunt, your neighbor, your daycare provider, your doctor, your coworker. Everyone could see your shit. And worse, you saw theirs. Which like I said, was cute, at first. Then, over time, I started to notice how unhappy social media was making me. But, I couldn't stay away. It's like high school all over again. I didn't want to be the one left out.
So for your pleasure, here is a list of 10 reasons why social sites are ruining your life:
1. You thought you looked good. You liked your hair. Then you logged onto Facebook and saw that your friend got her hair done and suddenly you hate yours and need to get it done. Now you are obsessed with finding a new style and color.
2. You went for a walk at lunch and felt good about yourself. That was until you saw that your friend ran 5 miles and burned more calories than you've ever burned doing, well, anything. Now you feel like shit and swear you will try harder tomorrow. But you won't, because after all, you are doing the best you can. Which was just fine until you saw what everyone else was doing.
3. You got dressed and went to work. Then, Pinterest happened. You logged on and saw that the girl in the picture with the perfect hair has a military jacket and you swear if you had that exact same jacket it would be so much easier to get up and get dressed in the morning. Oh wait, you need that scarf too. Now you are on 6 sites desperately trying to recreate an outfit on a chick you don't know who probably borrowed the entire outfit for the photo shoot.
4. Food. You got up and had a bagel thin for breakfast and some coffee. Oh, but not your friend. She made a smoothie. A damn smoothie. It's green. You don't even trust green stuff. Yet, now you are researching Cuisinart vs. Bullet blenders and the benefits of adding kale and spinach to your smoothies. You make them for a week and realize you don't like them and you don't look any better. Now you're a smoothie failure. Hashtag that.
5. Instagram. The guys that invented this are genius. Let's design an app that makes you way better looking than you are. We are all guilty of saying 'damn, I look good in this pic'. Yet still you can't figure out why you don't look as good as so and so from high school. Look at her, not an ounce of fat and so tan. How does she do it? She doesn't, Instagram did it and deep down, you know it. You have a real time feed of selfies and food. The best grilled cheese ever. Your life was just fine before you knew what people ate and looked like all day long, only you don't remember those days.
6. Vacation pictures. Remember when you didn't have to see everyone's vacation pictures unless you went to their house and they asked if you wanted to see some shots from their week in the Bahamas? Well now you have no choice. You can't look away. It's like a car wreck. You can't NOT look. It's only human. But now that you've looked, you're upset. Sad that you aren't going to the same place. Sad that you thought you looked ok-ish in your bathing suit. Sad that you don't have a cute fedora to wear. Now your life is shit. h
7. People are rich. Sure, maybe some are. But the problem is social media is a big fat braggart. And no one likes a braggart. Look at my new this and that. We are all guilty of this. But the reality is, and I blame human nature, now you are curious about how they bought that. Whatever it may be. I go to work every day and I don't have a new car. I make money but I don't have expensive designer shoes. Now you feel like you've been dealt a shitty hand because you aren't doing as well as your 'friends' who may or may not have just thrown it all on their credit cards. It's deceiving but you still feel bad. Now you have to find out how to fix it. Maybe you need a new job, a spreadsheet, maybe you can sell something. I bet they have rich parents. Yep, it's definitely rich parents. You wish you had rich parents. Now you hate you parents because your car is used and your boots are from Target.
8. Friends. You have 379 friends on Facebook. Most of which you would avoid at all costs if you saw them at the grocery store. You would take the long way, pretend to be on the phone, put on your aviators and go the other way. These people, for the most part, aren't your friends. Yet, you know for a fact, that while stalking, you made note of how many friends they had. And now, you're a loser because you don't have as many fake friends as she does. Or you decide you're going to weed thru your friends and delete people. You spend hours worrying that you will hurt someone's feelings. Seriously, they live 3 states away and you haven't seen them since middle school. Who gives a shit? You do because social media has give you a false sense of security. If I wouldn't invite you over for coffee, why should you be able to see pics of my personal life? It's creepy and disturbing. But we do it anyways.
9. 'Likes'. OMG, 29 people liked your picture. You are the coolest! Yay you!! OMG, 1 person liked your photo and it was your mom. Why doesn't anyone like you? Do you not like their pictures enough? What did you ever do to them? Should you take the picture down. Was it lame? Did you spell something wrong in your hashtag? Let me swipe and refresh the page. Maybe you're not getting your notifications. Yea, that's definitely what it is. Something is wrong with your phone. You'll die without your phone.
10. Communication is so yesterday. Gone are the days of calling anyone. You don't have to. You can text them. You don't have to send birthday cards. You can write on their wall. You don't have to buy gifts. You can email them a gift card. You literally don't have to leave your house and be social. Even at work, we use instant messenger. You can avoid any interaction and it's ruining our society. It's made people cold. And now you think you can read people by their texts and you over analyze every message you receive. No LOL? Did she mean to put a sad face? She just replied 'yes'. She's obviously mad at me. What did I do? Should I text her back. Call her? No that's weird, we never talk on the phone.
I leave you with these words. Put down your phone, read a physical book, call someone, write a letter, love who YOU are. Remember life before it was so 'social'. I will try to do the same.
-H
P.S. Yes, I realize I wrote this on a social site, then posted on a social site for my 'friends'. I wonder how many likes I'll get... #potandkettle
So for your pleasure, here is a list of 10 reasons why social sites are ruining your life:
1. You thought you looked good. You liked your hair. Then you logged onto Facebook and saw that your friend got her hair done and suddenly you hate yours and need to get it done. Now you are obsessed with finding a new style and color.
2. You went for a walk at lunch and felt good about yourself. That was until you saw that your friend ran 5 miles and burned more calories than you've ever burned doing, well, anything. Now you feel like shit and swear you will try harder tomorrow. But you won't, because after all, you are doing the best you can. Which was just fine until you saw what everyone else was doing.
3. You got dressed and went to work. Then, Pinterest happened. You logged on and saw that the girl in the picture with the perfect hair has a military jacket and you swear if you had that exact same jacket it would be so much easier to get up and get dressed in the morning. Oh wait, you need that scarf too. Now you are on 6 sites desperately trying to recreate an outfit on a chick you don't know who probably borrowed the entire outfit for the photo shoot.
4. Food. You got up and had a bagel thin for breakfast and some coffee. Oh, but not your friend. She made a smoothie. A damn smoothie. It's green. You don't even trust green stuff. Yet, now you are researching Cuisinart vs. Bullet blenders and the benefits of adding kale and spinach to your smoothies. You make them for a week and realize you don't like them and you don't look any better. Now you're a smoothie failure. Hashtag that.
5. Instagram. The guys that invented this are genius. Let's design an app that makes you way better looking than you are. We are all guilty of saying 'damn, I look good in this pic'. Yet still you can't figure out why you don't look as good as so and so from high school. Look at her, not an ounce of fat and so tan. How does she do it? She doesn't, Instagram did it and deep down, you know it. You have a real time feed of selfies and food. The best grilled cheese ever. Your life was just fine before you knew what people ate and looked like all day long, only you don't remember those days.
6. Vacation pictures. Remember when you didn't have to see everyone's vacation pictures unless you went to their house and they asked if you wanted to see some shots from their week in the Bahamas? Well now you have no choice. You can't look away. It's like a car wreck. You can't NOT look. It's only human. But now that you've looked, you're upset. Sad that you aren't going to the same place. Sad that you thought you looked ok-ish in your bathing suit. Sad that you don't have a cute fedora to wear. Now your life is shit. h
7. People are rich. Sure, maybe some are. But the problem is social media is a big fat braggart. And no one likes a braggart. Look at my new this and that. We are all guilty of this. But the reality is, and I blame human nature, now you are curious about how they bought that. Whatever it may be. I go to work every day and I don't have a new car. I make money but I don't have expensive designer shoes. Now you feel like you've been dealt a shitty hand because you aren't doing as well as your 'friends' who may or may not have just thrown it all on their credit cards. It's deceiving but you still feel bad. Now you have to find out how to fix it. Maybe you need a new job, a spreadsheet, maybe you can sell something. I bet they have rich parents. Yep, it's definitely rich parents. You wish you had rich parents. Now you hate you parents because your car is used and your boots are from Target.
8. Friends. You have 379 friends on Facebook. Most of which you would avoid at all costs if you saw them at the grocery store. You would take the long way, pretend to be on the phone, put on your aviators and go the other way. These people, for the most part, aren't your friends. Yet, you know for a fact, that while stalking, you made note of how many friends they had. And now, you're a loser because you don't have as many fake friends as she does. Or you decide you're going to weed thru your friends and delete people. You spend hours worrying that you will hurt someone's feelings. Seriously, they live 3 states away and you haven't seen them since middle school. Who gives a shit? You do because social media has give you a false sense of security. If I wouldn't invite you over for coffee, why should you be able to see pics of my personal life? It's creepy and disturbing. But we do it anyways.
9. 'Likes'. OMG, 29 people liked your picture. You are the coolest! Yay you!! OMG, 1 person liked your photo and it was your mom. Why doesn't anyone like you? Do you not like their pictures enough? What did you ever do to them? Should you take the picture down. Was it lame? Did you spell something wrong in your hashtag? Let me swipe and refresh the page. Maybe you're not getting your notifications. Yea, that's definitely what it is. Something is wrong with your phone. You'll die without your phone.
10. Communication is so yesterday. Gone are the days of calling anyone. You don't have to. You can text them. You don't have to send birthday cards. You can write on their wall. You don't have to buy gifts. You can email them a gift card. You literally don't have to leave your house and be social. Even at work, we use instant messenger. You can avoid any interaction and it's ruining our society. It's made people cold. And now you think you can read people by their texts and you over analyze every message you receive. No LOL? Did she mean to put a sad face? She just replied 'yes'. She's obviously mad at me. What did I do? Should I text her back. Call her? No that's weird, we never talk on the phone.
I leave you with these words. Put down your phone, read a physical book, call someone, write a letter, love who YOU are. Remember life before it was so 'social'. I will try to do the same.
-H
P.S. Yes, I realize I wrote this on a social site, then posted on a social site for my 'friends'. I wonder how many likes I'll get... #potandkettle
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Ern