Social media leads to irrational expectations?

Question

Agree or disagree? 
Are we less grateful for what we have because we wonder if something/someone better is possible for us?

Accepted Answer

150%. I was actually debating deleting Instagram bcs of this. I find myself constantly comparing and I think if it was gone from my life I’d stop that bullshit and focus on what’s more important

Answer

I think that sometimes we get unrealistic expectations of how great certain things (for this example, relationships) will be because we see only the best parts of those things on social media. 
But that's not anything new. Before social media, it was movies, TV shows, and books. Growing up, there's so many things I can think of that I was excited about and ultimately I was disappointed. 
-High school was a huge disappointment when I realized you can't just leave your clique and start a new hobby and immediately be accepted and make friends, also when I realized the entire cafeteria didn't just break out in song at random. 
-Dorm life was an awful experience for me. The building was moldy and drafty, all the perfumey crap in the air gave me almost constant nose bleeds, and my roommate was a slob who I had no interests in common with. Oh yeah, and I forgot my key in the room once when I went to take a shower and I had to cross the street in a towel and shower shoes in the middle of winter to get someone to come open the door for me. 
-When I lived alone I expected it to be an adventure, always fun, always having friends over. What it ended up being was expensive, stressful, and lonely. 
My point is, life was romanticized way before social media came along, and if we all started being honest on social media it has potential to do some good, and make people realize there's nothing wrong with them just because they haven't had that stereotypical, "ideal" experience.

Answer

I think social media effects everyone differently. Generally if you are secure with yourself & your life even if it’s not the greatest social media won’t/shouldn’t effect that. Everyone reacts & feels in different ways though so it really just depends. I know my life isn’t perfect, I don’t have it all together, my relationship isn’t something out of a fairytale but I’m okay with that I’m a work in progress & wouldn’t have it any other way. What other people have that I don’t have doesn’t effect me we haven’t walked in the same shoes. That’s just me though. 🤷🏽‍♀️

Answer

Not instagram, just society

Answer

I think it’s just society as a whole. Social media is just another way to promote “ideal” lifestyles and body images. Before social media, there were magazines, tv shows, and movies that promoted unrealistic lifestyles. I do think we have a personal responsibility to realize that many of those expectations aren’t achievable for many, if not most, people.  When you go out into the real world and live your everyday life, you can easily see that the vast majority of folks aren’t living by those standards.

Answer

Not really. At least not for me. Luckily I was taught to know the difference between the internet and reality.

Answer

i think only people who are very socially unaware can be truly affected by unattainable expectations. people who live in the real world and actually pay attention to what life is like realistically realize that social media is too perfect to be in any way true.

Answer

As a 21 year old, I can quite firmly say that Instagram has not lead me to have wildly high expectations when it comes to work and relationships. 
Only thing Instagram ever would have affected was my expectations for my own body image. But I joined Instagram after I turned 17/18, and by then I wasn’t as affected by my insecurities as I was when I was 13/14.

Answer

The only thing that feels irrational to me is food pictures on Instagram. 
I see your pecan chicken cranberry fancy salad and chicken in fifty seasonings I’ve never heard of. 
So I’m over here disappointed my food doesn’t look that good and why I haven’t even heard of some of these things in my life.

Answer

I don’t think it’s social media itself, it’s people’s reactions and interpretations of it. You only see one side of most people on social media, and for many, it’s easy to buy into that illusion of perfection instead of realizing that most perfect photos, even from before social media, are staged. My aunt posts everything (and overshares A LOT), but people know when things are going poorly, too. I rarely post on social media because I believe in mostly keeping your private life private, but I’m happy to see the good things going in people’s life, though I’d be fine if they shared the bad stuff, too.

Social media leads to irrational expectations?

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