Looking "perfect," being "liked"

Adapted for English Language Learners from a Newsela story.

We live in anxious* times.  [*Times of worry, concern, fear, stress.]   But maybe we don't   have to! 

    Experts say that the anxiety so many people feel is largely because of online social networks. People have come to measure themselves by Likes and Followers, or by "perfect looking" photos. Very rarely does the internet portray a story, or life itself, accurately.  As a result, our sorrow and discontent is being caused by a distorted view of life!

 

Online, Life Always Looks Wonderful

 

  Online, we usually don't see people as they really are. No one posts a photo where they’re not looking happy or their best. Party photos are happy, friends loyal, and the scenery, wherever you are, is always beautiful. 

     In short, life online is "perfect" and so we want more and more of it.  But . . . then . . . what about the hard, and not-so-pretty things we all face every day?  We compare our lives to the make-believe online version of life and we feel like we are failing. We fear that we are missing something that others have.

Before you read more, stop a minute and think of someone you know, or who you have read about, who is not rich, not beautiful, not powerful, but who you really respect.  What did he or she do to earn your respect?  When you think about this person, do you feel happy, or feel like a failure?

The result: anxiety

 

Anxiety is now the most common mental-health disorder in the United States, affecting nearly one-third of teenagers and adults.  It is both because of the "fake perfect world" the internet pushes, as well as the bad news it pours on us.  It makes the "bad" seem like it is everywhere, and the "good" always out of our reach.

     The Age of Anxiety can't be blamed on social media alone. Still, it is clear that the meaningless goals and nonproductive activities we find on the internet, as well as all the exaggerated news it gives us, disturb our peace of mind.  Even the feeling that it is OK to shut off your phone or your computer is a peace few people experience today.

   Our phones and the internet give us a world of constant change: new messages, new photos, new sounds, more interruptions. 

But "real life" has built into it the calm of the morning, the quiet of a deep woods, the natural beauty of a bird's song, the art of the sunset, the peace of the stars.  Those are the things we need to make room for in our lives—not more online time—if we would recover our peace.

Write down 3 things that you could start to do today to bring more peace, calm and joy into your life.