In Defense of Facebook
I truly have a love/hate relationship with Facebook.
I understand the many complaints about how unrealistic it is (as noted in the articles here and here) and often find myself questioning my parenting skills when I am not doing mommy/baby yoga regularly or creating homemade sensory activities for my daughter. The thing is, I think it's awesome to see what some of my friends and fellow moms are doing, and it's my problem that it makes me second-guess my parenting abilities - not theirs.
But to me, Facebook doesn't really present an unrealistic view of things. Instead, it presents a simple portion of your reality... and usually, the best parts. Although that can create weird self-worth issues, I know that when I look back at my Facebook images and posts one, two, or five years later, this is what I want to remember - the good moments, the encouraging words, the congratulations during times of celebration, and the funny articles that allow the stresses of life to temporarily dissipate. Moments like when my daughter was 16 months old and began saying words for the first time, or when my sweet husband bought me a bouquet of "just because" flowers. (Plus, I know I'm not alone when I say that people who endlessly complain or highlight their "horrible lives" are wayyyy worse than the those who are overly positive.)
Our brains are really good at holding onto the bad in life - mean things that people have said, the horrible, sad moments that cause regular heartache, or upsetting moments of failure - but Facebook, and the cheerful, happy, "unrealistic" posts are a good reminder that life really isn't all bad! Actually, it can be pretty beautiful.
I understand the many complaints about how unrealistic it is (as noted in the articles here and here) and often find myself questioning my parenting skills when I am not doing mommy/baby yoga regularly or creating homemade sensory activities for my daughter. The thing is, I think it's awesome to see what some of my friends and fellow moms are doing, and it's my problem that it makes me second-guess my parenting abilities - not theirs.
But to me, Facebook doesn't really present an unrealistic view of things. Instead, it presents a simple portion of your reality... and usually, the best parts. Although that can create weird self-worth issues, I know that when I look back at my Facebook images and posts one, two, or five years later, this is what I want to remember - the good moments, the encouraging words, the congratulations during times of celebration, and the funny articles that allow the stresses of life to temporarily dissipate. Moments like when my daughter was 16 months old and began saying words for the first time, or when my sweet husband bought me a bouquet of "just because" flowers. (Plus, I know I'm not alone when I say that people who endlessly complain or highlight their "horrible lives" are wayyyy worse than the those who are overly positive.)
Our brains are really good at holding onto the bad in life - mean things that people have said, the horrible, sad moments that cause regular heartache, or upsetting moments of failure - but Facebook, and the cheerful, happy, "unrealistic" posts are a good reminder that life really isn't all bad! Actually, it can be pretty beautiful.
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