Green with Envy. Why is Social Media Causing Us to be so Jealous? 2

You’ve just read another post about how happy she is.

Oh look.  She went on another vacation.

He just got a new house.

They just bought a new car.

We’ve all read those posts on social media where the life of others seems prefect.  Life looks so perfect peering into the lives of our Facebook friends.  Why can’t we have that?  Why can’t I have that perfect vacation?  Why why why?

One study out of Germany says that having an active social media interaction can cause jealousy.  What may have been a great idea to begin with, social media may have inadvertently contributed to our online jealousy.

Since the dawn of online socializing we’ve been putting our best faces forward, maybe over exaggerating the positive making our lives seem much more interesting.  What we should realize while looking at our social media accounts is that everyone else is making their lives much more interesting too.

Try to realize that most people only post the really really good or the really really bad.  The social media persona that’s presented is just a PART of the person- not the entire package.

Photos can be edited and what you see isn’t always what’s really going on.

Real life friendships are much more worthy of our emotions than a “friend” on FB.  Ask yourself how good of a “friend” you are with those on your feed.  Hide or delete those who are obnoxious and put forth effort to cultivate your real life friendships.

Take a break from social media and set strict daily limits, then walk away.

Keeping up with the Jones’  has been a part of the human experience way before the first Tweet-but keeping the green eyed jealously bug in check can keep our online interaction with others in better balance.

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