One-sided social media: promoting the front pages

When I was listening to an Alan Watts podcast the other day, he once again talked about the topic that there are no fronts without backs. However, as we already have a blog article on this topic, I would like to dedicate this one specifically to the interplay between this topic and the way social media works.

Personally, I can hardly think of an area where the back is ignored more than on social media. Everyone posts photos of vacations, the delicious food on their plate or other new purchases. Only the front is presented, so to speak.

I don't want to make myself sound better than everyone else at this point. Of course, when I was still using social media, I did exactly the same thing, after all, nobody wants to see how you get up at 6:00 a.m. or how you are on the way to the doctor or other things. Everyone wants to present themselves in the best possible light, but what's the point?

We let other people evaluate our lives based on photos that only present the front. Regardless of how many friends or followers we have and how much positive feedback we get from this "seeking approval", the experience is then evaluated as such. However, what is completely forgotten here is that an experience must always be viewed as a whole. This means that both the experience in and of itself as well as the path to it and what it means personally are included.

Unfortunately, social media now ensures that the back is not included in the calculation. This can cause some confusion, especially for people who have grown up with Instagram, TikTok and the like. How can a relaxing evening by the fire be better than being at XY's concert, how can a walk through the forest be better than an expensive meal beautifully prepared on a plate?

The longer social media is used exclusively for showing the front, the more the focus of individual people shifts from a good life to one that is easy to show off. However, it is of the utmost importance that people also see the backsides, as these are what round us off and give us a full or complete character. So we need to start seeing the backside not as something bad, but as something necessary. To put it in Watt's words: "We must not praise the mountains because they are great and majestic and we must not beat up the valleys because they are only deep. Mountains and valleys create each other."

Incidentally, in most heroic stories it is the sad backgrounds that make us like the protagonists, the heroic deeds or the front are what they deserve because they have been through hell beforehand.

How do you feel about this topic? Do you also have the feeling that social media is shifting our view of the world or rather our view of humanity, or do you think something completely different? Just share your opinion in the comments.