Should people be posting all of their achievements on social media?
Kate Litman is a 14-year-old student who is very involved in her school's theater group and unlike others, she chooses to keep her life private on social media, and here is why. It took place on a weekend with her friend who happened to be at the same audition for a new school theater group as her.
Her friend decided to post everywhere that she was trying out and how she was definitely going to get in. Kate decided not to tell anybody and when asked about why she said this, “I would rather keep private, instead of it being out in the public. Nobody needs to know what I’m doing”. At the audition, they chose the same song to perform and according to kate, she started to get nervous after hearing her friend. But a few days later the results are out and kate got in her friend, on the other hand, did not. After all her friend’s boasting on how she would get in, she did not get in.
Kate said while talking about this “Honestly I was embarrassed for her but that was also one of my reasons for keeping private, so I don’t embarrass myself but also so if she did get in and I didn’t I wouldn’t be comparing myself to her through her social media posts.”
So, the question here is: is posting all of your achievements on social media a good thing for you to do? Kate said that she doesn’t like it for her own mental health. With seeing others and that feeling of needing to compare yourself to them.
Psychology Today said that posting your achievements on social media could help boost your confidence and give yourself a better “look”. They mean by “look” that if you were trying to get a job at a company and the company was to find your social media page, it shows your achievements and success, making you seem like a better candidate if you chose to post your achievements. The only downside to this could be a fellow applicant finding your page and feeling the need to compare themselves to you with your boastful posts.
Going back to what kate said about how she tries to not post her achievements and look at others' posts for her own mental health connects the two. It can bring people down and potentially damage their self-esteem, feeling they’re not good enough with being surrounded on social media by other people they believe are “good enough”.
While kate makes great points on mental health and comparing yourself to others you have to think about why the person posted it in the first place. They could have been proud for working so hard for a scholarship for their dream school or a new car and then that pride could be fleetingly followed with guilt over people saying how they wish they got it because they can’t afford school, or to buy a car.
While posting and not posting have their pros and cons people should have to remind themselves that other people’s achievements do not determine their worth, and there is a line between sharing achievements and bragging.