Do you act differently online, than in real life?
” I mean the picture was average, but I couldn’t get my mind off the location typed amidst a hundred hashtags. It was The Club. Not just any club, THE Club. No no, Ofcourse I’m not jealous! I just can’t believe she could afford getting on to the guest list of the elitist club in the city..maybe I am, you know..a little jealous. And then they expect you to be yourself! How can I, when people are out there enjoying, while I’m here home, all by myself, waiting for her them to update their feed, so I can have a glimpse of what luxury looks like, voluntarily making myself miserable, with each passing day… “, The girl standing beside me complained on to her phone as I stood listening, surprisingly forgetting about the crowded compartment I was in.
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Expectations, I repeat to myself as I can recollect the conversation that I remember having with myself more often than I should be allowed to. The self imposed expectations we impose upon ourselves to be better than everyone around us.
If my mother wouldn’t have wanted me to score better than my neighbour in Math back in 1999; I wouldn’t be sitting here in 2015, evidently desperate to earn, doing a job my interests don’t really lie in, foolishly envying my closest friend who is living life to the fullest, also a common hashtag on most of her supposed work pictures on every social networking site in exotic locations with exotic men.
It might be safe to say that we weren’t completely ambitious until we saw that friend post pictures on a social networking site with his luxurious car or over the top, ridiculously branded outfit. To an extent, whenever it’s needed, which is more often than not, we are all a little too different than our real selves online, all for different reasons. A child is different because he is honest , a teenager is different because he does not want to be and an adult is different because he can’t decide between the two.
When the pressure to succeed and surpass someone in whatever manner, either greed or loathe, takes its toll on you, it is emotionally and mentally difficult to be the person you really are, behind a screen. More than being pretentious, it is an escape from the life you’re leading and the little cheats that you allow yourself without having to justify yourself to anyone. It’s being someone who will be socially acceptable and liked by people that you aspire to be one among. Being different when you aren’t looking someone in the eye is not necessarily a bad thing, what matters is what you choose to tell yourself. You tell yourself it’s okay to say things that you wouldn’t have in person, you tell yourself it’s okay to look like you know things that you have no idea about, you tell yourself it’s okay to look a certain way because everyone is, you tell yourself that it’s okay. And that’s why, people are different online, than being who they really are, because they keep telling themselves that it’s all okay, when they never really feel okay.
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