Facebook is a really great way to do this haha. I find myself fishing through Facebook profiles of people I barely know anymore comparing their lives to my own and deciding whether I like theirs better. Well it dawned on me today as I perused three very different profiles just how warped this practice is. Usually, these comparisons only encompass one aspect of life. I'll look at the supermodel friend and think, "Wow, I wish I could dress like that all the time." or the hippie-adventurer friend and say "Wow, I wish I could live out in nature all the time with such a carefree attitude." or the successful business-tycoon friend and think, "Wouldn't it be nice to have so much money?" But what I forget is that each of these people can look at the others and think the same damn thing. That girl who looks like a supermodel everyday probably doesn't have the time or interest to do grungy things like hike through a rainforest in a Central American country or serve on a ship in Africa. Those adventurers probably have limited knowledge of the ever evolving corporate metropolises that the business-tycoon-friend has. The business tycoon with all the money probably has too much stress and pollution pumping through his veins to consider building a modest family. The very young single mothers have little idea of what it's like to be rich and relaxed but they have a greater understanding of responsibility and survival than others.
I'm not really trying to make a point here. Just observing. The grass is always greener... Personally, I think I'd like to try a little of everything. How will you know if "their" life is cooler than yours if you don't try it? Maybe it is cooler and you discover that you've been sitting around wasting your time living in a way that you hate. Maybe it's more glamorous than it looks and you'll be glad to go back to your own life. Well-roundedness is under-appreciated these days. I think it starts when society forces 17 year olds to choose what they want to do for the rest of their lives by telling them to choose a major in college right away. Until that point, kids have had no time or independence to do things on their own. Why pigeonhole them the second they have the opportunity to step out on their own? Where is the grace period in which you can try things out and discover what you want out of life?
2 comments:
Cracked.com warns that judging yourself against others on facebook is tricky because people only take pictures of themselves when they're happy (for the most part). So everyone is looking at other facebooks and thinking everyone else is happier than they are.
When I look at your facebook, I envy all the costumes you wear, how dynamic and awesome you and all of your friends are, amazing performances you seem to put on all the time. Presumably when people look at mine they think I'm always at the beach or Disneyland. I know that's not accurate of MY day to day life.
That's a good point! Haha, I haven't been in a play in over a year. The last costume I wore was for a 1920s themed party. Before that—Halloween.
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