My content is going to be a little different this summer, read to find out why.
Hi friends, I have missed y'all and have really missed writing. It's been a very long while but I have been going through the motions of life and everything has been really exhausting. However, today I was itching to talk about the feeling a lot of us get while watching instagram stories in the summer, FOMO. Going even deeper I wanted to talk about the standards to which social media has made us believe we need to achieve and how good or bad they can be for us.
2000s Standards
I have been watching a lot of old Disney shows lately just to feel something again. The amount and type of social media I consume really affects my mental state and everyone's if I am being honest. I was noticing in a lot of older Disney shows how normal everything used to be. Houses in these shows reflected houses that normal people have. They were messy and people never looked picture perfect 24/7. I think the crazy standards have definitely pushed me to be the perfectionist I am today but at the same time this perfectionism stops me from achieving everything I could because I am constantly afraid of letting other people see me fail.
I think the pressure for Gen Z is getting worse, even from the media we consume you can see that people online curate their lives perfectly. No teenage bedroom has a sock out of place, which is unrealistic for most people.
FOMO
Speaking of media perfection, summer is probably the worst season for this. I feel like I open any app and everyone is on a European vacation planned by the Pinterest CEO themselves. I never used to think this way where someone else's happiness lessened my own but for many reasons it's been hitting harder than normal so I thought I would write this article to analyze the positives and negatives and perhaps why it has finally started to get to me.
Let's start with the negative. When we see other people living the lives or experiences that we wish to take part in, it can highlight the "lack" in our lives. These posts can create feelings of discomfort, jealousy and even symptoms of depression. This dark comfortable place is easy to get stuck in. The mindset of "well I will never have those things so I should just give up and become bitter," is one that a lot of us slip into unconsciously. Pulling yourself out of this is usually a major mindset shift that you have to do actively.
Some methods that have worked for me when I get in this slump include:
Counting my blessings: Corny yes but also very necessary, when everyone seems to be doing better than me, I start counting the small things I have been blessed with that many people around the world aren't and it helps put things back into perspective.
Get Inspired: Instead of letting people's curated social media content get me down, I let it inspire me. I tell myself anything I want in this lifetime, I can have, if I work for it. Want to go on a yacht? European summer? Fancy dinners? Start a budget, pick up extra hours, make a plan. Everything is possible for you. People have woken up millionaires over night from lottery winnings, what makes you think that you can't have the things you want?
Log off: If all else fails, delete socials and get reconnected to the real world and you will realize not everything on socials is real.
Delusion: The Bright Side
Now let's talk about the bright side of the extremely perfected and curated social pages and the expectations they set for us. One thing I think social media is great for is delusion.
Delusion is the best manifestation tool: I have used Pinterest for years and I have started training my brain to use other social medias the same way. I save the best posts and prettiest restaurants and other things I see that resonate with me. I imagine myself doing similar things like pretending I am at Hotel Du Cap drinking mimosas in the South of France. I know a lot of my past dreams were fulfilled using this same method.
I think the kind of content I am referring to is also a good way to motivate yourself as long as you don't aim too high too quickly.
Conclusion
The standards for media will always be changing, I think in the last year we are seeing a change towards more genuine, less curated content and the emergence of apps like "BeReal." I know we will all continue to see this shift as the average person has also got sick of seeing the same perfected faces, bodies, places and luxury items. I want to make an active effort as well to post things that genuinely make me feel happy instead of catering to this societal need of being accepted for the amount of money I do or do not have. I hope this article helped you in some way and I hope to see you again soon!
Love,
Simran
