I read an article some time ago that touched on a topic we are slowly becoming more and more aware of. The link of depression and social media. And how our culture is killing us with comparison. How we have a whole different life online, than we actually live in real life. The article states: “There are 80 million photos posted in Instagram a day. Facebook has 1.49 billion active users per month. Twitter has 316 million active accounts; Tumblr 230 million. Pinterest has 47.66 million unique visitors from the US alone and is the fastest-growing independent site in history.
Increasingly, most of us are living two lives: one online, one off. And studies show that this makes us more vulnerable to depression, loneliness and low self-worth.
In 2013, scientists at two German universities monitored 584 Facebook users and found one out of three would feel worse after checking what their friends were up to — especially if those friends had just posted vacation photos.” They went on to say… “A 2014 survey conducted by the Manhattan-based marketing agency Current found 61 percent of millennial moms were rattled by the pressures of social media.
“There is an anti-social media movement on the horizon,” Current executive Amy Colton told Adweek. “Moms, especially young moms, are feeling pressured to present a perfect life . . . and starting to feel overwhelmed and annoyed.””
They spoke of the rise of individuals who’s real lives are clouded with alcohol and drugs to mask the feelings of inadequacy and failure they experience when they continuously compare their real life, to the photo-shopped versions of their friends and the people they follow. The lives that were ultimately ended by their own hand because they felt they couldn’t live up to the expectations and perfection. The amount of retouched profile pictures might surprise you when anyone can airbrush their skin to perfection for free with an online photo editor. The perfect outfits, and food, and trips, and decor. It fosters continued lack and discontent, especially in our young people.
The ‘anti-social media’ “Movement” the article mentioned, has started this new hashtag; #TotalHonestyTuesday. The Financial Diet’s Fagan launched this about 5 months ago, and it is a hit with her audience, “thousands of whom post screenshots of everything from facial blemishes to cellulite to credit-card bills. “People find it cathartic,” she says. “I think people are becoming more comfortable with the idea that what you post on Instagram isn’t really you. It’s a fictional version of you.” You can read the whole article here.
I thought, since it’s Tuesday, maybe we could have a little honesty in our post.
I’ll start. Yesterday I had left over birthday cake for breakfast [and the day before that, and the day before that]. My sewing room is such a disorganized wreck that I cannot enter it without stepping on piles of fabric and boxes of buttons and stray pins. Should I even list the mess that is in my lab currently? My life is far from perfect, and most of the time I feel I can hardly keep up with everything. It is easy to get overwhelmed and discouraged. I’m blessed to have a husband that always re-grounds me in what is most important, and reminds me not to worry about what ANYONE but God thinks about what I do and how I do it!
Share about your #TotalHonestyTuesday in the comments below! And check out our products like Depressease, Stress Management, and Adapt.
[author] [author_image timthumb=’on’]http://shawneemoon.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/Kerry.jpg[/author_image] [author_info]Kerry Brock, Certified Herbalist and owner at Shawnee Moon, is a researcher of plants, an eater of herbs, a drinker of coffee and a formulator of remedies. She keeps busy trying out pinterest diy’s and often failing at cooking in her backwoods home in rural southeast Missouri with her fantastic husband, Davy, two dogs, an assortment of cats and a unbelievably supportive family near by.[/author_info] [/author]
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