Social media wouldn’t be so destructive if we didn’t lie about our lives, and make them seem better than they actually are.
Here’s my train of thought.
Humans are constantly making social comparisons. We scan our environment and mimic the people who seem to be doing well. If someone appears to be happy, healthy, and prosperous we try to do what they do.
It would be a big problem, if we mimic someone who appeared happy, healthy, and prosperous but actually wasn’t. Why? Because we’d be tricked. We’d be mimicking behaviors that weren’t actually good for us.
Social media isn’t solely dangerous because it makes it easy to compare ourselves to others, but that’s obviously true. Social media is dangerous because it’s hard to discern if someone is truly happy, healthy, and prosperous or if they’re faking it. Which makes it really easy to emulate the wrong people.
So we end up mimicking behaviors that aren’t actually good for us, and pay for the mistake with our sanity.
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