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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I didn’t even realize the effect it was having on me.I consider myself a reasonable and educated woman [b]but I always feel bad about myself and my life when I’m on social media. Every image I see is curated to project an aspirational life, whether it’s from the influencers or everyone else who is pretending to be an influencer.

It’s always more more more. Buy this, go here. Look at my 10 step beauty routine. Look at my perfect kitchen. Look at my 5 international trips a year. It’s become this bragging book of the rich and the wannabes.[/b]

Meanwhile my ordinary life looks pale in comparison. Instead of enjoying and being thankful for my life I’m constantly being asked to upgrade and over consume.

I’d like to just stop engaging with social media. [/quote]

Very real and well documented phenomena.

The only people posting horrible life-events on social media are either mentally ill and don’t realize the issues in doing so.. or they’re just very socially inept.

It’s like a constant barrage of the obnoxious braggy Christmas cards some people send out. You might mention a death, but you’re not going to mention the hard day-to-day issues like

“Larla is still dealing with that dang drug addiction!—sent her to rehab three times this year but now she’s in jail for stealing a car an assaulting someone!”

“Meanwhile Larlo won’t ever leave his room and is addicted to video games to the point he’s failing all of his classes his Junior year!”

It’s all very curated.

[/quote]

This is true but I'd like to point out that people also omit a lot of stuff that isn't majorly embarassing or miserable but WOULD actually be relatable and give people things to connect over. Without being super negative.

Like I have known people who have posted honestly about stuff like struggling with aspects of parenting or work or whatever. I like when people do this and when I used to be on social media more I also did this some in a limited amount. I think there is great potential for social media to be a place where you could share honestly and it could bring people together and for it not to just be a place to brag about the best things in your life and leave out everything else like you're a celebrity on a promotional tour.

The celebrity promotion approach has won out though and for the most part I think people are less real on social media than they once were. I quite Facebook and Twitter and now just follow a handful of Instagram accounts that I think are balanced (not influencers but some people who post about issues I'm interested in like maternal mental health and weight lifting).

One thing I like about DCUm is that the anonymous posting seems to free people to be more honest which means also being more realistic and willing to discuss the bad with the good. Some people on here still insist that they have it all figured out and their life is the best life but I just ignore them. There are more people being real and honest on here than on non-anonymous social media in my opinion.[/quote]

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