The Problem With Social Media That No One Is Talking About
First of all…. I have a few questions for you.
If there is power in our testimony, then why is everyone so quiet?
How can you share your “testimony” without talking about the test itself?
Why do we only share our wins without sharing our journey or the losses along the way?
In a culture that is so big on “speaking your truth”, why do we only speak the parts of our truth that we think people want to hear?
As a millennial, my faith, my relationships (husband and family), and my career are the three most important facets of my life - and I am likely not alone in this regard. I spend a lot of my energy, time, and money trying to grow spiritually, become a better wife, and dominate at work. It is no coincidence, then, that my human competitive nature tempts me to measure myself against the standards of others in these three specific areas. In other words, I am someone who naturally compares myself to others. I am willing to bet one million dollars that I am not alone on this one either.
But the truth is, the competitive nature that leads to comparison is killing the millennial generation. Especially because we are often comparing ourselves to incomplete versions of the whole truth. Comparison steals joy, stokes sour envious emotions, and feeds deep roots of ungratefulness and dissatisfaction. Unfortunately, social media is the primary breeding ground for very unrealistic comparisons.
In the age of social media we have to be mindful that every post we see is only one piece to the puzzle. Those awesome vacation photos, new house photos, gender reveal videos, and wedding highlight slo-mos are all small pieces of that individual’s life puzzle. Comparing your entire life puzzle to someone’s one beautiful puzzle piece will lead you to a false belief that your life is anything but beautiful, sufficient, unique, and adequate.
Anybody else ever find themselves deleting social media apps and ghosting for weeks at a time? I surely have. Comparing my life to everyone else’s photos and captions was draining my self esteem to all time lows. The crazy thing is, when I actually talked to those very same people I was comparing myself to, I often discovered that there is so much more to their photo than what their caption revealed on social media. By having genuine conversations with people I am able to learn the transparent truth about their experience and appreciate each of their puzzle pieces with understanding instead of envious comparison.
According to Merriam Webster’s dictionary, the word transparent means to be free from pretense or deceit, or to be readily understood. The word truth is defined as the body of real things, events, and facts.
One can share a truth (a real thing, event, or fact) under a specific pretense that causes that truth to be deceitful and not readily understood. In other words, you can share the truth and not be transparent - which really isn’t very truthful at all. The real truth is transparent in nature. It is clear, not deceitful, without pretense, and readily understood. The transparent truth is when we make it make sense, when we keep it real, when we say what we know needs to be said.
The solution to the social media comparison problem that so many of us are dealing with is going to require us to display real courage, vulnerability, and humility. The Transparent Truth brand is my way of leading by example to inspire us to have more genuine interactions and authentically encourage one another.
Here is my personal resolve: If I am going to share information about my faith, my relationship, or my career I need to share the truth as transparently as possible. If I can’t be transparent about it, I shouldn’t share it on social media so that I don’t contribute to the social media deception of life perfection. My desire is to share my whole testimony, without neglecting the actual tests and challenges. I will share my wins, and the losses I took before, during and after those wins. I will authentically try to encourage and relate to you by sharing The Transparent Truth. By doing so I hope you’ll grow your faith in Jesus, love harder in your relationships, and pursue your passions relentlessly, authentically, and without comparison.
