Jonesing Today

It’s been a while (Nov 2011) since I left Facebook. I do not miss it, on the contrary. And… I still have other social media in my life (G+, LinkedIn, Twitter), but only “use” them from time to time and for particular reasons.

The Facebook experience was becoming a bit too compulsive. Creating an account in 2008 was already peer pressure and giving in to herd behavior (which I don’t like at all), but once on it, some kind of exhibitionistic, peer pressured, obsessive composure kicked in.

It is interesting why we feel this urge to “prove” how wonderful our lives are. Prove. To whom? Our “friends” (= those in our friends list)? – because by the tone of their status updates, it seems they are having a ball in their life too! Gotta keep up with that. It seems like Jonesing. Today’s version of it. We don’t want to fail to keep up with the Joneses.

I think the word “status” might say it all. Back in the old day, the material status of your peers COULD be the stimulus to try and acquire more for yourself. Nowadays, maybe one’s social media status is doing the same. But then much faster and much more intense. You don’t even need to look for it, it comes right atcha! At the speed of sound almost ;) We are constantly being pushed and stirred to keep up. Promoting ourselves to the extreme. The more “I like” you give the more you receive . It must be good for your “status”.

Fun nights out, holiday pictures, attending social events. This is proof. Proof of happiness. Proof of keeping up…

But what about the reality behind this virtual shallow scene? Is this about life?

Maybe underneath… in the real world… our life is not that swell.
And our “friends” really don’t have it all together…

So what about the ones that can’t keep up? Never ever, or just temporarily…
What is the impact of “missing out”, not having all that fun… not doing all that interesting stuff etc… That could leave a person pretty depressed at the end of the day. It can not be beneficial for your self esteem, thinking everyone else is having a better life than you!

Instead of becoming “more involved” in your friends network, you might end up becoming more isolated. Mentioning you feel down in your status might not return the reaction you hope for. Maybe someone will answer with a "sad smiley emoticon" or someone else will say: chin up! (yes! With the exclamation mark!) And then you can answer: yes! You’re right! Life is beautiful! The more exclamation marks, the harder you try to fake cheerfulness.

The real friend will give you a call or drop by - and would be doing it anyway, because that person is your real friend, not a cyber friend and … cares for you, and probably has more tools to express compassion than cyber emotions.

Depression is becoming the number one disease in the Western world.
Social media and depression are often found in the same sentence in numerous articles.
Might be worth keeping up with thát.