Social Media is Warping Our Perception of Reality
In a world of digital transparency, we’re losing our grip on what’s real.
“By giving people the power to share, we’re making the world more transparent.’ — Mark Zuckerberg, 2012.
In many ways, Zuckerberg, founder and CEO of Facebook (which has almost 2.5 billion monthly users), is right with this quote. However, the real question is, what kind of world has social media made more transparent?
I ask this question because nowadays, no matter who you are — even if you do not currently have a social media profile — you are only a few taps of a screen away from being able to spectate the lifestyles of some of the wealthiest people in the world, their million-dollar mansions, primed and perfect bodies, expensive cars, and beautiful scenery.
There is only one problem. You are not living these lives you are just watching other people live them and doing nothing to improve your own situation.
It’s inevitable that the most famous people on the planet have the most followers on these platforms. Cristiano Ronaldo has, at the time of writing, 220 million followers on Instagram. At any one time, at least 3% of the global population could be scrolling through Ronaldo’s Instagram, gazing at his pristine lifestyle — the result of a supposed £26 million-per-year deal he has with his current club, Juventus. The kind of money that, realistically, a huge proportion of his follower base could never even dream of having.
This is where the problem arises. I am not frustrated or annoyed with these celebrities for sharing their lives because. As you heard from Zuckerberg himself, that is the whole premise and idea behind these platforms. However, the key issue is the propensity of the average follower going on to believe that these kinds of lifestyles are normal — and achievable.
Social media is an addiction. It is a tool that is used extensively and religiously by people from many different walks of life — different cultures, different lifestyles, different upbringings — and they are all subjected to posts, feeds, and videos of lives that are not theirs.
More, they are exposed to these alternate universes every single day of every single week. It is bound to become imprinted somewhere within the mind of the scroller that they can achieve equally as much as, if not more than, the subject of their loyal following.
And indeed, some people can and do achieve such things, but not all. Otherwise, we’d all be doing it. That’s just the harsh truth of life.
The Wealthy Few
It is, unfortunately, becoming a sad truth that the lifestyles of a wealthy few are starting to form the basis of our goals and desires. Our lives might not be as exciting or as aesthetically pleasing as the reality of Kylie Jenner or Cristiano Ronaldo or Rihanna. But these lives of ours are perfectly normal, and are nothing to be ashamed of.
Platforms such as Facebook, I’m sure, were created with the very best, pure intentions. And in many ways, social media is one of the finest ideas and developments in recent times. A message to my sister who lives in Sydney is a couple of taps away.
Furthermore, an increasing number of jobs, and therefore livelihoods, now depend on the use of social media. With the advent of smartphone cameras and Snapchat memories, people now have somewhere to permanently store all of their happiest memories. Our digital world is fast becoming, if it hasn’t already become, one of the most important things in the life of somebody living in the 21st century.
But as much as social media has its uses, it, too, can use us. This is a temptation we must resist. How? Limit your time on certain apps, put your phone down, go on a walk with friends or family — just do something that helps you reconnect with what your life really is, the life you are actually living every day, rather than being bogged down in what Instagram tells you life is meant to be like.
Please remember that your version of ‘real’ is not a photo of Kylie Jenner sunbathing in the garden of her mansion. Your ‘real’ is literally a glance up from the phone screen away — which is ironic, because it can seem so much further away than that when you’re in the midst of another social media browsing session.
You do not need four cars, a house in Beverly Hills, and a private jet to be happy or to have a fulfilling life. It’s perfectly okay to have a 9–5 job, a bit of a beer belly and a weekly fry-up for breakfast. What’s important is maintaining your sense of individuality and not allowing what you see on a daily basis on your social media profiles to become your desired reality. Doing so will only breed dissatisfaction in your own life.
After all, our world is so much more than what our favorite celebrities and influencers post on their social media pages — no matter what kind of life you are living.
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