The double edged sword of Social Media

I feel like when people meet me they expect me to be in a wetsuit, or hiking boots, heading to the nearest mountain or ocean. I’m sure they imagine that I should be standing still in a very picturesque location – looking like I’ve just conquered the world. Or so my Facebook profile would have it.

The ‘Social Media Me’ portrays an image of someone very active. But that’s not the entire story. I’m also very outspoken, but through the written word. I absolutely cannot articulate myself in a face to face conversation the way I can through words on a screen.

Following a short conversation on the infamous ‘Tinder’ the other day, I find myself questioning the image that we all portray through social media.

“You’re a woman after my own heart with the Kayaking and Hiking” says Tinder man with the great hair (or does he actually have great hair?)

Okay so, I hike. Not as often as I want to (or as often as my Facebook profile suggests)

Kayaking? I’ve been in a Kayak twice in my life.

My profile picture is of a friend and I in a Kayak. Why did I choose to make this image my profile picture? Because it gives people an image of me that I want them to see. Sure I’m hardly going to upload a picture of me at my desk, in my pj’s with unwashed hair and eating cookies, am I? Absolutely not.

And it’s not that big of a deal, really. Even in reality, outside of the social media realm, we’re all keeping up appearances – putting on a façade for some, and less of a façade for others. Who really cares if our 500 plus friends on Facebook believe we are someone we are not?

But that’s not the point.

My younger sister is constantly jeering me for my Snapchat story. If we’re out for a walk on the greenway, and I take a snap, she’s rolling her eyes saying “not again”. After this happened a ridiculous amount of times, we got into a discussion about it. And sort of figured out the reasons why we upload pictures that we do.

We do it because we want people to know what we’re doing – but only if we feel it’s worth knowing.

If I’m out being active, I subconsciously want people to know that and think “Jaysus, your one is really getting into the fitness”. (Nobody will ever know about that pizza afterwards, nobody.)

We never really consider what sharing this information with others actually means.

Let’s take my Snapchat for example (Am I really doing this?)

Here goes, about one month ago I took on the challenge of committing to a daily fitness routine. If you’re my friend on Snapchat, you will, without a doubt, be aware of this. And I’ve kind of put this unnecessary obligation on myself by constantly uploading it to my Snapchat story. Now, having made the realisation that this is completely ridiculous, I’ve stopped doing it. The pressure of being consistent with it in reality is enough – I don’t need the pressure of being consistent with it on social media.

I’m not sure how others feel about this, but for me personally, observing other people’s social media lives seems to have a mostly negative impact on my own life. It’s been mainly subconscious. That was until one evening, having planned to meet my friend for a Chinese, I caught myself pre planning the Snapchat story – Like I was genuinely making plans based on the social media content it would provide.

Having made that embarrassing realisation, I slowly and cautiously backed away from my phone. Now I’m completely conscious of it, and the thought of it actually makes me shudder.

Let’s take the nightclub snaps – which seem to be the most popular. If you click into Snapchat at the weekend, prepare to enter the world of drunken lunatics, swaying from side to side, singing their hearts out like they don’t have a care in the world. This genre of snap is not one you’ll find on my story too often. I’m not a big drinker and rarely hit the nightclubs. (I can see now why she was using Tinder!) But, if I am heading out, you’ll be sure to know about it through social media. And the mind boggles because, well, I wouldn’t have brought a hand held camera to a nightclub with me back in the day.

This kind of Snapchat story seems to be the reason many of us are suffering from FOMO – Fear Of Missing Out. As it goes, you will observe someone you know, doing something you’re not doing, and before you can even consider if you want to actual do that or not, you’re feeling like you should be – because they are.

Can we take a moment to consider our lives without knowing all of this information about other people? No matter how far we move forward with technology, ignorance will forever be bliss.

We may not feel comfortable admitting it, but social media can be an ego fuelling tool – a way for us to portray ourselves to be something we are not (or something we are for a moment of a day). It can be a way for us to seek the approval from others – without even being aware that we are seeking such. It can also provide a way for us to be judgemental – without us even wanting to be.

We all live extremely fast paced lives, with another worry just waiting to be added to the list. So why on earth are we committing to the upkeep of a social media image? Isn’t it enough to have to do that in reality?

Everyone talks about the importance of living in the moment – turning off the phone and just being present. And although this theory has a lot of substance, it’s not the only reason we should be considering curbing our data usage. I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to be in a position to judge people, or feel obliged to justify my daily life to others. I don’t want to be constantly putting myself on a platform to be judged.

Of course, it’s not all bad. After months of following Khloe Kardashian’s fitness journey on Snapchat (I know, I know, a lot of embarrassing admissions here), I finally became inspired to commit to my own fitness routine. Social Media is a doubled edged sword, we all know this. But if, like me, you have a few too many insecurities, are susceptible to the odd bout of panic, and have a tendency to act on impulse, then I think it’s important to consider the reasons why you are using social media, and if it is actually necessary.

I can never upload a Snapchat story again now, can I?