I wonder how much of this stress is caused by technological advances. I bet Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, etc. is making these poor kids neurotic.
In the era of social media, such comparisons take place on a screen with carefully curated depictions that don’t provide the full picture. Mobile devices escalate the comparisons from occasional to nearly constant...Madison Holleran’s suicide provided what might be the ultimate contrast between a shiny Instagram feed and interior darkness. Ms. Holleran posted images that show her smiling, dappled in sunshine or kicking back at a party. But according to her older sister, Ashley, Madison judged her social life as inferior to what she saw in the online posts of her high school friends. An hour before she killed herself, she posted a dreamy final photo of white holiday lights twinkling in the trees of Rittenhouse Square.
I'm 22 (just graduated) and I got rid of my Instagram, Facebook, and Snapchat about a year ago. It feels fantastic. I do miss messenger sometimes, but the benefit of not having my time/energy sucked out by Facebook far outweighs messenger's convenience.
I'm 32 and still feel shitty about life compared against everybody else posting their amazingly perfect success-success-success lives online.
Computers used to be the domain of nerds, then they became too common and now it's a permanent social status ranking high school game you never get to exit and can't even completely opt out of either.
Maybe we could make a viral game like the ice bucket challenge except this challenge is to not post online when something amazing happens in your life. Just be quiet and know you got away with something.