The circle is complete. When we were young, all relatives I encountered—from grandparents to uncles to great aunts et al—seemed to have topped every exam they’d ever sat for. ‘First class first’ was the term used back then; everyone seemed to be one. So much so that I often wondered who came second and third in class. My underdeveloped imagination couldn’t work its way beyond that. Even today, my still-stunted mind can’t. Because, again, everyone seems to excel in everything they do. And they do only excellent things.
The boys appear to be reading Ulysses by the time they’re seven and writing the sequel when they’re nine; in between they go off to Europe for soccer training, just to prove that they have the brawn to match the brain. The girls win beauty/essay/debating/modelling competitions through school before heading off to Ivy League colleges. The parents, meanwhile, rip through Reykjavik, laze in Lombok and cruise through Croatia. I presume they work in between to make the money required to pay for the soccer classes but that part doesn’t figure on Instagram. Or Facebook. Or Twitter. Work matters are rarely aired on social media. Unless there’s an award to announce or praise to retweet. Like trips back home to Jabalpur or Bhagalpur, they’re shut off by a virtual curtain.
It’s enough to make any working woman depressed. And it seems that I’m not the only one wallowing in a pool of discontent triggered by other people’s social media posts. Earlier I’d read about a study done on 600 Facebook users by researchers from two German universities. They discovered that one in three FB users feel worse after visiting the site—especially after they have skimmed through their friends’ glowing accounts and photos of their life successes. The most frustration is reportedly felt by users who compare themselves with their peers and are upset by the “lack of attention” their pictures and posts get. In other words, fewer comments and likes.
A new study by the University of Michigan supports the earlier finding. It shows that social media, particularly Facebook, puts people back in touch with old school friends and reunites estranged lovers, but it also makes them unhappier.
For their study, the Michigan researchers recruited 82 young adults, a core Facebook user demographic. They then texted them five questions, five times a day for two weeks: How do you feel right now; How worried are you right now; How lonely do you feel right now; How much have you used Facebook since the last time we asked; and How much have you interacted with other people ‘directly’ since? Here’s what they found: the more the participants used Facebook, the more their life satisfaction levels declined. Importantly, the researchers found no evidence that direct interactions with other people, either by phone or face-to-face, made the subjects feel bad; on the contrary, those made them feel better.
And yet, you can be sure that all those hurting/lonely/depressed subjects got right back to their laptops as soon as the study was over. It’s the online version of worrying a broken tooth with your tongue: you know you’re making it worse but you can’t help yourself. As for me, sorry, but I need to go check on my best friend. She just messaged me to say she’s missing me as she drifts down the Yangtse and to check out her pictures on Instagram.
shampa@newindianexpress.com