Yesterday, I went to London with a friend. We had fun train rides; we enjoyed walking through streets, past architecture that I absolutely adored; we visited several interesting museums; we found great (and affordable) food; and we had an amazing view of the city from the Shard at sunset. 

That’s what you would know from all the pictures I took and my Snapchat story. Friends sent messages saying it looked great; they were glad I was enjoying myself; they were jealous. They didn’t hear about the cold, windy, wet weather. They didn’t hear about how we were rushing to catch our rides to the Shard and the train back – literally running into the tube as the doors were closing and dashing up and down several flights of stairs, trying to find the right platforms. All of that was actually fairly inconsequential, though, and just added to the fun of the day in its own way – making good stories and adding to the experience in more hectic ways. Nevertheless, they only make it to social media if they do, in fact, make a good story. 

One of the things I hate about social media is the false image it presents. A lot of people hate it because they think it’s intentional, but I hate it because sometimes it isn’t. Sometimes people don’t mean to give a false impression at all; it’s just an inherent, inevitable consequence of how social media operates. Social media is about connecting people, but it’s also about convenience, so, no matter what the platform, it’s based on being short-form. People scroll through social media; they don’t stop to read through it. If you post a long caption on Instagram or a lengthy article on Facebook, few people are actually going to read over it, and even fewer will read it in detail (as opposed to skimming). Even videos, people tend to jump through them or exit out early or just skip them over entirely. If they want to read something long, they’ll go to a blog or an online publication or pick up an old-fashioned book. If they want to watch something long, they’ll go to YouTube or Netflix or get an actual DVD. Social media is so fast-paced that people don’t have time or space to really explain what’s going on in their lives and give an accurate representation.

People heard about yesterday, because it was a good day. They didn’t and won’t hear about today: the first day of classes. They won’t hear about the loneliness; the homesickness; the overwhelming feelings of frustration and anxiety, feeling unprepared and lost. Even if it wasn’t a bad day, they wouldn’t hear about it, because it would be a boring day. And people don’t want to go to social media for boring; they go to have fun and escape their lives. They go to be inspired and amused. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t; it makes us envious, and we feel worse about our lives and ourselves. 

But I don’t think it’s always intentional. People post their highlights on social media. They don’t post the mundane days or boring stuff; they post fun and exciting and intriguing. Even if it’s negative, they make it captivating, wanting to get attention and elicit a response. Whenever people post on social media, they’re posting a narrative. Maybe they’re posting honestly, with honest intentions, and there’s no conscious, underlying agenda, but social media is about sharing your life and connecting with others, and they’re specifically censoring certain parts. It’s not a bad thing – we should have privacy, and there are some things we should keep to ourselves – but it’s important to recognize that social media is inherently short-form, which may mean truth, but it never means complete