I remember being on holiday, sitting in the sun with a lovely chilled glass of wine, when I saw a friends update with a picture of him having fun at a party. For a moment I felt gutted, wished I was home in rainy Britain and able to be at the party too. When I returned from holiday I asked how the it was, and contray to the image painted by the photo was told the party was rubbish and really boring.
Now whenever I look at Facebook updates I remind myself of this. More important than ever to do this as people are getting even better at creating this illusion of a world where every moment is fun filled and and amazing. Moments of time are carefully crafted and staged to give the best image.
With studies linking use of social media sites with depression we all need to put other peoples digital updates into context, realise these are effectively personal press releases designed to show us as they want to be seen.
In one survey they found 20% confessed to not being trueful about their holiday activities or jobs. 25% of Facebook users said they had falsfied some of the account information.
I don’t think social media is making us more dishonest, it is just recording and sharing these lies to a much wider audience.
This short film is a brillant portrayal of a very modern problem.
Christopher Wellbelove DL 