Social Media....It's A Devious Thing

I haven't posted much in the past few weeks, and here is why. I mostly just sit in my house and watch Netflix while I try not to die of boredom. I have been social ONCE...yes, you heard correctly. ONCE. I went to Divergent with my friend Anna (jolly good show btw). I have been experiencing a lot of fatigue lately, which may account for most of the isolation, and let me tell you, it’s HARD being alone all the time. I feel like I am isolated from the world, and once you’re in, it's A LOT harder to get back out again. I get close to making plans, and then I chicken out! I feel like it's been so long since I have hung out with someone, that I don't know how to be social anymore. Be patient world, I will be out and about in due time. In the meantime, don't get offended if plans don't end up working out. 

I get on Facebook, and I see what my friends are posting,  how many likes their Instagram picture gets, and it definitely doesn't help this emptiness I'm feeling inside....but it made me think. I watched a video recently about how Facebook is ruining our ability to make friends because it connects us with TOO many people and allows us to project a perfected version of ourselves to the world. You can control, edit, and manipulate what is posted on social media...and it isn't real. You can pose fifty different times and use the harshest filters on your profile picture, or spend hours re-editing posts. I hardly ever post anything anymore, because I just don't have anything witty or exciting enough to post. I have debated deleting my Facebook account, but have stopped myself out of fear that I will lose contact with society...permanently. The majority of my friends are serving missions, and Facebook is a good way to keep in touch with them to know when they are coming home! 

To be truthfully honest, social media makes me upset most of the time. People post things that I don’t agree with, or argue about issues that I feel strongly about, and I get really angry just reading it. I usually don’t reply (I can be rude when angry), and when I do, it leads nowhere good. The few times I have voiced my opinion online have caused me trouble. That’s another problem with social media. People are braver. I would never go up to someone and argue vocally about these issues (unless provoked), but I am more confident using social media.

Here’s the thing. I haven’t been very good at this recently, but a few weeks ago I took a little break from social media. I decided to spend my time doing other things, and you know what happened? I read books. I read my scriptures. I was semi-productive!! I started reading Shakespeare. I actually enjoyed it and UNDERSTOOD it. I have gone downhill since then, but this helped me to realize the affect that social media has over me. I was looking at everyone else’s lives and feeling sorry for myself….when really I am only seeing what they wanted me to see, and that’s not real. Life is boring sometimes. Life is hard. It’s OK.

I watched an interview recently where someone said that the people who are constantly “Tweet-ing”, “Instagram-ming”, or “Facebook-ing” how great their life is, are most likely lying, because they have enough time to sit and post about it. They are probably the ones in the corner watching everyone else have fun. Just think about that for a minute.