The Comparison Game: Facebook

I visited Reunion Church a couple Sundays back.  It was the first church I visited in Boston.  The pastor was sharing about how envy can rob our joy (think older brother of the prodigal son).  We compare ourselves to others, and decide we want what they have.  Facebook plays a role in this because we post the top 1% of the great things that happen to us.  Relationships, new job, pictures of that awesome vacation, from your top 500 friends all in one newsfeed is bound to make you feel like you don't measure up.

My first thought was that we should counter that by posted all sorts of different things, not just the "good" things.  Then I realized, some people already do that, and I find those posts annoying.  There's something about sharing things that are going wrong just out into the open that makes me uncomfortable.  I don't mean me doing it makes me uncomfortable, I mean when other people do.  I then realized it's because it breaks the rule of our culture.  "How are you doing?" "Fine." or "Great!"
It seems so superficial, because so often it is, but I'm not quite sure the alternative.  I feel like we need a small core group of friends who we share the hurts and pains with, and for everyone else, we just practically don't have time to unload everything that is wrong all the time.  We interact with so many different people each day, and with facebook that number gets scary high.  So you just have a filtered down version of yourself.  The elevator speech that tells everyone everything they need to know about you in 30 seconds.  You only have time to show good things, so it's settled.

Just remember when you look at facebook, it's not the full story (privacy still exists kind of).  Their life has good things, and so does yours.  Theirs has bad things, but they're just not sharing it to the whole world.

Don't compare, just pick a few things going well in your life and enjoy them.