I’ve seen a lot of very viral write ups lately about how we shouldn’t try to be so perfect for our online profiles.

There is this post,

*Stop Instagraming Your Perfect Life- Everyone’s life looks better on social media and that’s the problem

Then I saw this one,

23 Things Every Woman Should Stop Doing (#8 Comparing Your Real Life To Someone Else’s Virtual One)

Or this, which is hilarious by the way.

21 Really Annoying Facebook Friends We All Have 

And the one that really got me thinking was this latest movement “Don’t Delete That”

“@therevrock has started a hash tag social experiment #dontdeletethat. Instead of posting only that perfectly edited selfie, try posting a REAL pic of yourself that you’d normally delete! Spread the word and let’s see the real you! #dontdeletethat”

On one hand I get it. I came across this blog article the other day and the person was portraying themselves as the super star of homemaking and she’s pretty successful at writing about it. Lots of people are looking up to her as the expert in her field, but I’ve seen her field in real life and it is in horrible condition. I mean stop blogging right now and go take care of your field because it is on fire kind of condition. It’s like the documentary Catfish, which is now a show I guess. This documentary is CRAZY and I don’t want to spoil it for you if you haven’t seen it, but let’s just say people aren’t always who they make themselves out to be on the internet. And we know this. So I understand that there is a danger in trying to create a virtual facade.

On the other hand when I read the articles above sometimes I think people worry about it TOO much. It’s like complaining that people dress up at weddings, or that girls wear makeup to cover blemishes. We all want to put our best foot forward don’t we? When I saw several of my friends posting some funny #dontdeletethat photos I thought about joining in, but I humiliate myself 20 hours of the day as it is (yes even my sleep is embarrassing) and so I don’t have time to make a conscious effort to humiliate myself on purpose on the internet. Although, I do that sometimes, like intentionally including dozens of typos and grammatical errors on my blog so that no one feels inferior to me. That was a joke, those are authentic.

As I chew on these thoughts, it occurs to me that just because I am not dealing with this there are so many people that are.  It’s like the models on the covers of magazines are getting worried that they are being replaced as the #1 reason so many women hate themselves. That’s a shame. Even though I do spend a significant amount of time online I do not think I am contributing to this epidemic. Then again, I could see how some people would be jealous of my prayer requests and my instagrams.

But I just can’t help it that my life is glamorous.

What it really boils down to is to know the truth and be set free, John 8:32. The truth is you are a one of a kind beautiful individual. Man has struggled with comparison, insecurity, and pride since the beginning of time this isn’t something that is all the webs fault. I have recommended  Hamlett’s Blackberry before and I’ll do it again, it is all about this kind of thing.  Here is part of the description from the back of the book

Author William Powers draws on some of history’s most brilliant thinkers, from Plato to Shakespeare to Thoreau to demonstrate that digital connectedness serves us best when it’s balanced by its opposite, disconnectedness. Lively, original, and entertaining, Hamlet’s Blackberry will challenge you to rethink your digital life.

Go check it out from the library like I did, or by all means if you are going to order it through Amazon click the link on the side of my page here and I get a little sliver in commissions.

I’ve rambled on long enough. Keep it real internet.

*It’s interesting that this article used to be called “Stop Instagramming Your Perfect Life”which is how I saw it when it was circulating on Facebook, but now it appears to be called “Instagram’s Envy Affect”. I guess I wasn’t the only one that thought that sounded a little bitter.