Full of yourself?

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Social media is running rife. It controls so much of what we do. So many times I hear, hang on, just hold it right there so I can take a picture and put it on instagram… All you have to do is look around the shops, the streets, the theaters to see people glued to their phone. I’m one of them. My smartphone has become a lifeline. Constantly attached, constantly updated with what’s happening with friends and family all around the world. Constantly connected to blogs and lives and strangers and people living gloriously exciting and beautifully mundane lives.

I look around at all of us who are posting and tweeting and commenting and photographing our every day lives and see so much crafting taking place. We choose what to post, of course. We craft our own lives for public consumption. We show only what we want to show and the rest, the rest goes undocumented or at least unshared. Do you think this constant attachment we have to each other and to beautifully shaped and crafted lives is going to change the way we live in the future? Is it going to change the way our children face the world? I think there is wonderful things that can come out of this and many challenges that this presents to all of us. As people. As parents. But I think to really make lasting changes that are positive for not only ourselves but for the world around us… we all need to make a more concerted effort to be “real” in terms of who we are as people. Instead of worrying what other people might think, just being true to ourselves in whatever aspect of social media and online life that we choose (and it is a choice, it’s all a choice) to present ourselves to the world. I’m not talking about full disclosure, I think that’s unnecessary… but just honest.

Are we all just a little bit too hung up on what other people might think of us? I know I have this particular issue more in some areas of my life than in others. I know that I make a conscious effort every day to be brutally honest with myself and I try to be as honest with other people as I can be. But no matter how hard I try, some times that little voice creeps in. What will they think of me?

Are we all a bit full of ourselves as a bi-product of social media? Is this a female phenomena or is it men too? Is this going to change the way our children see the world? What do YOU think?

You wouldn’t worry so much about what others think of you if you realised how seldom they do.

– Eleanor Roosevelt.

 

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  • July 25, 2013 - 11:02 am

    Mum - “No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.”
    ― Eleanor Roosevelt, This is My Story

    “When I was a child my mother said to me, ‘If you become a soldier, you’ll be a general. If you become a monk, you’ll be the pope.’ Instead I became a painter and wound up as Picasso.”
    ― Pablo PicassoReplyCancel

  • July 26, 2013 - 11:20 am

    Maxabella - “Don’t let comparison be the thief of joy” (Anon) – just getting into the spirit of your mum there!

    Social media sux for this kind of thing. I can assure you that you will never be good enough, never be the best. There will always be someone doing this or that or those differently and better.

    Or so says you…

    Just remember to turn it all off often enough to appreciate all you’ve got and all you are.

    xReplyCancel

  • July 26, 2013 - 10:38 pm

    Laura June - I think it affects some people more than others. Personally I don’t read blogs that are all sunshine and roses all the time because to me that’s not real. It just feels forced. No, you don’t need to air all of your dirty laundry on the internet, but I think it’s good to own having a bad day every once and a while. We all do, we’re human.

    I also think some people struggle with getting caught up in comparing themselves to others internet selves. I do my best to take it all with a grain of salt and remind myself what my priorities are. Would I like a meticulously decorated house with matching furniture? Sure! But I have other priorities (i.e. launching my husbands business, having another baby, etc). You have to be so much more self aware in this internet age, more in touch with what you really want, not what other people tell you you should.ReplyCancel

  • July 27, 2013 - 3:24 pm

    Peggy - I think social media is the perfect platform for creating a persona or appearance that we want to project to others, not necessarily always an accurate one. I am all for the honest and real blogs, but sometimes the gloss sucks me in. It is a bit conceited to think others might have an interest in our lives from the outside looking in, but then they must, or else we wouldn’t be here blogging/instagramming/facebooking now would we!ReplyCancel

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