How many casual, not-so-casual and serious talks have I given to my daughters about being wary of social media?
I know Facebook is often full of the best 20 seconds of people’s lives. I know, often, what you see bears little resemblance to the real story. Person A has a decade-long history of issues with Person B, yet here they sit laughing in a group photo at a restaurant overlooking a winery. I know there are photo filters and life filters and emotional filters used before anyone presses share.
I know the easiest way to create a myth is to post on social media. I know living on a screen doesn’t compare to the glorious mess of living off one.
Worse still, I repeat these “life lessons” to my kids. I don’t want them to be dragged along behind Facebook and Instagram et al by their scrolling fingers and take on some self-loathing, hyper-critical, let’s-compare-our-lives-with-this-“perfect person” ride.
I have rules about their social media consumption because I know it is a world that requires rules and boundaries and a little bit of distance.
Listen: The story of Essena O’Neill, the model who quit social media. (Post continues after audio.)
Yet here I sit — often on the end of my bed, because I like to Facebook in private. Taking a break from the Sunday night dinner, clean-up, what’s next ritual to just have a ‘quick’ scroll through Facebook (and while I’m in the neighbourhood, I may as well knock on Instagram’s door).
I’m in that space between the end of the weekend and the reality of a new week. The noises in the house are familiar. A last minute load of laundry is on. Someone is opening the fridge. There’s a soft hum of voices asking what time is it, where are the tweezers, who has the phone charger.
Top Comments
I'm over a year out of being off FB my husband is 8 months off, at first it felt like I was missing out but now I just don't care, (we've never used other types of social media). My true friends who I actually talk to and see are actually in contact more often and for genuine reasons as they haven't heard all my news. I kept my messenger because I don't have everyone's mobile numbers but use it very infrequently. Now I'm living my life exactly how I want without worrying how it looks to others and without their lives impacting on my decisions. It has been great and is much better for my family as neither of us are sitting their reading about others lives at night instead of interacting in our own.
"I’m going to Google that secret river place and we are all going there next weekend. With a really healthy picnic that everyone will love."
Last year a photo came up on facebook of an amazing place. It took me over a month of googling, searching and exploring but I eventually found it. It was so rewarding to finally get there.