Little do we know she needs our friendship and support now more than ever.
For example, we don’t think we need to call our friend who often goes through depressive spells in the winter because she seems to be doing so well from the looks of her Instagram account. The truth is that when we mainly encounter people through social media we’re only scratching the surface. Or rather that I’m up to date on a version of their lives. What my sabbatical from social media has helped me understand is that I mostly have the perception that I’m up to date on my friends’ lives. When we get together in real life or on the phone, what is there left to share?
It’s as if we’re never away from people because we’re constantly being updated via social media. Our curiosity gets dampened by the overabundance of information spewing at us from the many social media feeds we check countless times each day. With social media it’s so easy to feel as though you’re always up to date and you know exactly what’s going on in other people’s lives. We know about the kid they just had, or the sandwich they just ate, or the trip they just took-but do we actually know anything about the emotional landscape of that person’s life? Perhaps friendships in social media feeds are more distant that they appear. It’s keeping in touch without any of the legwork.
I have a hunch that seeing people enact their lives on social media makes us feel as though we’re closer to them than we actually are.
