What do Social Media and Reality TV have in Common?


What do social media and reality TV have in common? They are both fake! Just because 'real' people are involved and not 'actors' doesn't make it real. Reality is scripted, so is social media. You put what you want the observer to see. You pick and choose. It is not real.

 Huffington Post in an article titled "The Thin And Dangerous Line Between Social Media And Fake Feeds" states:

 Social media is often a lie. It's another version of fake news. Or at least, it's not the full story. What was intended to be a way to stay connected with friends and family has become a perfect, shiny reflection of people's best lives. Though sometimes, those lives are fake.


 The opposite can be said about reality TV. Often instead of showing the best of people's lives they show the worst. Even that is fake because it doesn't show the real picture, the whole picture.

 Both reality TV and social media pick and choose what to show creating a false reality.

 This is probably not news to you.

 So what does this have to do with mental illness? With mental illness we deal with enough lies. We deal with the voices in our head that tell us "we are failures" or "everyone would be better off without us" or "no one really cares" etc. 

 We need more truth in our lives to balance out the lies. Social media and reality TV won't give us that. It is a detriment to our healing and growth.

 I have been talking about social media and depression. If you have been reading this series you know by now where my bias lies.

 The quality of what we read and watch feeds our minds. We who are challenged with mental illness have to be more careful than others with what we feed our minds. 

 We, those of us who have a mental illness, need to develop our ability to recognize the difference between truth and lies.

 Enough about social media. This series was designed to enlighten you as to the pitfalls, emphasize the addictive potential and encourage you to consider your own social media habits.

 WHAT ABOUT YOU? How are you feeling today? Is social media helping with depression or making it worse? You be the judge.

 Don't give up! There is hope for depression.

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