People who are unhappy with their lot.

Gains

Well-known member
Has it become standard practice now, to try and make others as unhappy as they are? Rather than concentrating their efforts on improving their own lives?

The amount of personal abuse aimed not just at the famous but at anyone deemed to either be doing well, looking decent or who disagrees with one opinion or another is just shocking.

Youngest is 18 and her and her mates life seems to revolve around giving the perception of as close to a perfect life as possible, leading to abuse from others who are jealous, when the reality is her life is far from perfect and we've been very worried about her at times. And I have pointed out that it might not happen if this Instagram life wasn't portrayed as it is, yet the cycle continues.

No wonder mental health problems among the young are at an all time high. They all feel like failures because their lives aren't as good as other's they're watching when the reality is, nobodies is as perfect as they try to portray.

Sound like an owld knacker here but the onus seems to be on going somewhere not to enjoy yourself, but to record yourself looking like you're enjoying yourself. It's sad as f**k and I don't know the answer.
 
Has it become standard practice now, to try and make others as unhappy as they are? Rather than concentrating their efforts on improving their own lives?

The amount of personal abuse aimed not just at the famous but at anyone deemed to either be doing well, looking decent or who disagrees with one opinion or another is just shocking.

Youngest is 18 and her and her mates life seems to revolve around giving the perception of as close to a perfect life as possible, leading to abuse from others who are jealous, when the reality is her life is far from perfect and we've been very worried about her at times. And I have pointed out that it might not happen if this Instagram life wasn't portrayed as it is, yet the cycle continues.

No wonder mental health problems among the young are at an all time high. They all feel like failures because their lives aren't as good as other's they're watching when the reality is, nobodies is as perfect as they try to portray.

Sound like an owld knacker here but the onus seems to be on going somewhere not to enjoy yourself, but to record yourself looking like you're enjoying yourself. It's sad as f**k and I don't know the answer.
Social media and media in general has a lot to answer for. It’s sad really. I will be trying to keep my boy away from it as much as possible as he gets older by explaining to him how a lot of it is manipulative and unrealistic.
 
I agree and its one reason why I stay away from social media more these days.

People would be much happier if they just enjoyed the moment, especially young people, rather than wanting to portray an image and live their lives through whatever social media platform they prefer.

Not everyone is like that of course and for many people the connectivity is a lifesaver, but it can easily spill over into an obsession.
 
There was a recent study of facebook posts and interviewing the posters. It turned out that:
a) the less someone posts on facebook, generally the happier they are.
b) Happiness was almost directly in inverse proportion to the happy posts.

Make of that what you will but the study was on adults not children.
 
You could start by convincing her to get ride of her phone - easier said than done I know. I bet I'm one of the few on here without one and never wanted one, but then I AM an 'owld knacker' as you put it.
 
There was a recent study of facebook posts and interviewing the posters. It turned out that:
a) the less someone posts on facebook, generally the happier they are.
b) Happiness was almost directly in inverse proportion to the happy posts.

Make of that what you will but the study was on adults not children.
Yes I read that unhappy people post more freely And curate their lives on soc media. This tweet for example had 3500 replies!

 
You see it all the time. Two of my friends barely used social media at all then all of a sudden they and their partners started posting almost everyday about how much of a great time they were having together etc etc. Within 3 months they’d split up.
 
Some of these kids are in for a shock when they realise how life is.
things come easy to them - if you can get respect from your peers for one photo and a click then you won’t likely understand working three jobs seven days a week whilst bringing up kids is one thing to be truly proud of.

I mean as kids we were probably all competitive liked showing off and bragging to a degree. The problem is now it’s all played out on line to a much wider audience.some will grow out of it and move on , others will be so obsessed it will consume them.
 
Im in my late 30's and think back to how I was when I was 18-20... All we were bothered about was who had the best aftershave for attracting the lasses :ROFLMAO:

Social media has a lot to answer for... Its good in some respects but the fake side of it and social influencers is beyond a joke and needs addressing.

I work with a lot of younger people and their lives seem to revolve around posting selfies of everything they do... I dread the day my two lads are old enough to start using social media... I intend to keep them off it as long as possible.
 
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I can't understand why everything has to be recorded now ie concerts.... Just enjoy it and watch it.... The crazy thing is I bet they never play it back and just spoil the view for people behind them
I love people watching - in Cornwall last year I watched this woman make her mum take about ten photos by the beach with the widest I’m enjoying myself smile. As she was walking off she had a face like thunder insisting her mum who was by this time getting annoyed go back and reshoot the photos as they obviously weren’t going to score big on Instagram.

there’s a black mirror episode which satirises this whole online life to the degree where there are different classes of people based on their social media score. It would be funny if it wasn’t fir the fact that’s where we are heading in some respects!
 
The perfect image thing is as old as the hills. Any art gallery with old paintings will have examples of the big house, insanely overproportioned livestock and blemish free faces. Ye olde filters.

Try showing kids examples from your own phone. It's not 'teaching a lesson' but kids and teens are very good at rolling their eyes at parental opinions, then regurgitating them to look mature in front of friends.

I work with primary aged children and it's alarming what they're exposed to. Online gaming against adult strangers with consoles is virtually a p-dough portal and TikTok just feeds them dross and unbelievably inappropriate content.

I took my son's iPad a few months ago and spent hours on YouTube Kids to try and direct the algorithm away from those awful videos of spoiled brats opening expensive toys and towards more educational things. When my eldest gets a tablet or phone I'm going to make sure it's Android so that the family link can be set up.
 
The perfect image thing is as old as the hills. Any art gallery with old paintings will have examples of the big house, insanely overproportioned livestock and blemish free faces. Ye olde filters.

Try showing kids examples from your own phone. It's not 'teaching a lesson' but kids and teens are very good at rolling their eyes at parental opinions, then regurgitating them to look mature in front of friends.

I work with primary aged children and it's alarming what they're exposed to. Online gaming against adult strangers with consoles is virtually a p-dough portal and TikTok just feeds them dross and unbelievably inappropriate content.

I took my son's iPad a few months ago and spent hours on YouTube Kids to try and direct the algorithm away from those awful videos of spoiled brats opening expensive toys and towards more educational things. When my eldest gets a tablet or phone I'm going to make sure it's Android so that the family link can be set up.
Interesting with the last part. I’ve had to ban my 3 year old watching those real life kids as it encourages spoiling and makes it feel normal. Thing is when she stumbled across them they are her favourites videos.

May biggest worry is the pressure for a phone. It’s seems the norm for 7/8 year olds to have them but I’d like to think i can get my daughters to senior school. Will i be able to hold....doubtful
 
There was a recent study of facebook posts and interviewing the posters. It turned out that:
a) the less someone posts on facebook, generally the happier they are.
b) Happiness was almost directly in inverse proportion to the happy posts.

Make of that what you will but the study was on adults not children.
Yea I know a couple who are forever portraying how happy they are but know for a fact they aren't and have regularly discussed divorce. But they both support each other in their online charade. There's definitely truth in the saying "The sign of a good relationship is no sign of it on Facebook"
 
It's a shame we can't give people the tools to life a more content life. The basics of philosophy would enhance how a person approaches each day and hopefully lead them to understand all that really matters is the moment and their choices and actions.

It seems Social Media and especially Facebook has led to many judging themselves by what others think of them, or at least how it appears. It's impossible to control what others think, so why even worry about it?
 
Whilst I fully understand the OP I’m not sure it’s unique to the generation you're talking about by any means, it’s just that the medium/vehicle for this has changed thanks to advances in technology. It may make it “worse” but people basically trying to play “keep up with the Joneses” is nothing new at all.

In the 90s it was all about who had the best tracksuit top and trainers etc. It seemed trivial and petty to my parents but it was massive to us teenagers.
 
You can get abuse on here for different political views

Never do twitter, I signed up as someone on here said there is a Boro memorabilia page, after a couple of views I thought what's this all about, can't see the point in it soon signed off & can't even remember my password, read how abusive it can get on there so no thanks
FB, I've posted on there for many years but 99.9% my posts are the exact on here, this day Boro
 
Wasn’t keeping up the Jones’ a 50’s thing. I think social media is the same things but with the concept of perception added in, I’m off twitter/Facebook/Instagram and have been for 2/3 years and I feel better for it
 
Wasn’t keeping up the Jones’ a 50’s thing. I think social media is the same things but with the concept of perception added in, I’m off twitter/Facebook/Instagram and have been for 2/3 years and I feel better for it
I’m not even sure “perception” is a new thing. Wasn’t Keeping Up Appearances (BBC sitcom) based on this exact thing in the late 80s/early 90s?

I keep off Facebook/Twitter these days as I’ve come to the conclusion that the vast majority of frequent users are mostly uncomfortable with debate as a concept and can only see it as an “argument/row”. It is generally better on here on that score (although I did take a break at the start of lockdown 3 when things looked very bleak). Instagram is just pictures and thankfully you don’t need to read all the rubbish people write.

I’ve also limited the WhatsApp groups I’m in to smaller groups of more trusted individuals. I sort of feel like the bigger the group the more superficiality/competitiveness there is and therefore it’s not hard to see why Twitter has gone the way it has.
 
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