The Deceiving World of the Internet

Part of the reason I stopped blogging this time last year, amongst low levels of creativity and poor self-esteem, was because I was convinced my life was boring. I would read blogs and scroll through the instagram pages and twitter feeds of youtubers and feel like I didn’t have anything worth writing about. Especially in comparison to trips to Cambodia and Outfit of the Days constructed entirely from current season Topshop. Who wants to read the thoughts of a slightly unstable teenager when you can experience beautiful photographs of far off lands taken on a Canon with a big lens? And thus, I temporarily retired from blogging. 

Ironically, it has come to my attention that a few people upon reading my blog have said ‘Maya, you’re life is super interesting!’ and ‘Maya, you do so much cool stuff!’ 

I want to take this opportunity to tell all of you that the internet and social media are deceiving.

All of us filter what we put on the internet. You don’t tweet a picture of your sainsbury’s meal deal every day to let everyone know you’re just having lunch. This doesn’t mean that you don’t eat lunch every day. It just means you didn’t feel the need to tell everyone about it. In the same token, I don’t blog about the four days I spent wrapped in a burrito of blankets watching Orange is the New Black despite the beautiful weather outside and there being thousands of places in this city I could be exploring. I don't make picture posts of me doing chores or attempting to get a head start on my second year reading. This doesn’t mean I don’t do mundane things. It just means I don't chose to share them. 

 In fact I live a mundane life 85% of the time. But I chose to share my 15% of excitement, like trips to Paris, adventuring around London and beautiful smoothies, with you. My life isn’t interesting, I don’t spend all my time doing cool stuff, I just simply don’t share the boring bits. Because in reality, would you read 500 words on walking the dog and getting through five wash loads of laundry?

It is easy to become wrapped up in the fantastic lives other people are living and forget that you are only exposed to a select proportion of their reality. I decided I was boring by comparing my life as an 18-year-old student to what I saw on the instagram profiles of successful youtubers and bloggers. Which was bollocks. Because okay I might not be quad biking around the world and videoing it on a go-pro whilst 2 million people watch. But that doesn’t devalue my words. My experience is still worth sharing. Our lives are not inadequate because we don't consistently eat fresh organic food on a beach. Nobody really does that! We're all only showing our best bits.  

So, as a 19-year-old who spent a lot of her youth wishing my life was like those ‘more successful’ and ‘experienced’ than me, I urge you all to stop comparing. Nurture your passions and self construct. Do it all for yourself, not the potential response. Aim for the fantastical whilst keeping mindful that we are all filtering our reality for other people’s pleasure. We all experience the mundane, even though we don't always see it in others. Do not let social media deter you or determine your success.