Brain Trails: Social Media Portrayal Fraud (Also Post 100)

I have started this post and deleted it at least three times.  After reading some of my earliest posts that are completely irrelevant, I decided that I will never write on this blog unless I have something important to say.  I think I have finally come across something of enough importance that it warrants being written about.

The title may have you thinking I'm going to write about something illegal.  You know, like those click bait articles that say, "You're breaking the law and you don't even know" and has a picture of a white girl smiling at a laptop in a brightly lit, mostly white room.

Psych.

This is not about that at all.

I'm talking about how we are all fraudulent in our social media presentations of our lives.  Of course, with the small exception of certain high school/college age people who seem to think of Facebook as their personal diary.

I find myself wanting to post something on Facebook like "I just had the worst day of my week and I really want to punch something", which of course would be true.  But I stop myself because I don't want to be "that person" or have people look at me like some poor privileged white millennial (which, actually, according to generation breakdowns, I'm not) who has all these petty problems and needs to toughen up.  And so, instead of reaching out to my group of "friends" for help and support, I shove my hurt and frustration down and end up taking it out on people.  All because there's this social expectation that I'm not allowed to have problems that are monumental to me.

This needs to stop.

This also does NOT mean that I'm advocating for Facebook and Twitter to become a personal diary where people air all their dirty laundry.  (Guilty.  I'm sorry, Twitter followers)

So, as with everything in life, this calls for a healthy balance.  So my challenge to you all is this:

• Stop portraying your life as this perfect sequence of well-controlled events.  
• Be real with people.  If your "friends" can't understand that you're going to have a bad day and need social support, then they're not your friends.
• Be judicious about what you're posting.  Don't turn Facebook into a negative rant fest.  
• Be willing to support others when they post about their troubles. 
• Don't write someone off or judge them for having a tough spell in their lives.  How would you feel if someone did that to you.  
• When posting, don't go into extraneous detail.  Some dirty laundry doesn't need to be aired.  And there is such a thing as TMI.  

I felt that this was an idea worth sharing.  I hope you agree with me on this.  And yeah, I had a bad day.  Yeah, I'd love to completely destroy something inanimate.  Yeah, I have a few choice words for a certain few people.  (Yes, I'm talking about you, nasty bus driver.)  I don't have a rosy, sunshiney life where everything goes as planned.  So my call to you is to stop portraying a fraudulent and inaccurate image of your life.  It's not perfect, so don't pretend it is.